Harry Brook Admits England’s ODI Woes After Crushing Series Loss to New Zealand

England’s ODI woes aren’t looking to end anytime soon, as they lost yet another series with a big margin this year. These results have frustrated not just English fans, but the captain as well, who is trying hard to bring positive performances. Harry Brook looked disappointed after the 2nd ODI game at Hamilton, in which New Zealand hammered the visitors and clinched the series with a decisive lead.

The new England leader admitted that they were beaten by a much better side. He lamented the performance of his own team by saying that the players are disappointed with the way they have played in the series.

"It's disappointing, isn't it. You go round every single player there and you think, 'bloody hell, there aren't many teams that they don't get into in the world'. It's disappointing we haven't performed as well as we could. It happens. They've played well and sometimes you've got to hold your hand up and say they've been the better team." said Harry Brook at the post-match press conference.

England prides itself on playing aggressive cricket. Their recent approach in test cricket has given a fresh perspective to the longest format of the game. The problem is that this strategy is not working well in the ODI matches. The English team have failed badly ever since they adopted an aggressive approach in ODIs, with their record declining rapidly over the last three years.

"It's not too dissimilar to the way we play Test cricket, really. We play aggressively in Test cricket and it's not too far off. Obviously we haven't played much one-day cricket in the last however many years. I can't quite put my finger on why we haven't batted well enough. It's just one of those things. You come to play the second-best team in the world on their own patch and they've hammered us." said Harry Brook.

When asked whether New Zealand took advantage of the toss in both matches, Harry Brook quickly replied that it is just an excuse. He said that the English batters are good enough to handle swinging and seaming conditions, so they should have performed better while batting first.

"That's just an excuse. I haven't won many tosses, I'd have liked to have had a bowl today [in Hamilton] but that's just an excuse. Everybody in that batting line-up is good enough to be able to face a swinging and seaming ball, cope with that and score runs against that." said Harry Brook.

Speaking about the performance of Jofra Archer, he said that the bowler is in good touch, and hopefully  he will perform well in the upcoming matches. It should be noted that Archer arrived in New Zealand a few days ago, so Brook was pleased that he managed to turn up quickly to get featured in the ODI series.

"He's gone back-to-back five-over spells there, after just getting off the plane a few days ago. So hopefully he recovers alright. But thankfully he did run in for me. That's all I asked from him and he was bowling wheels. He's going to be good to touch for the rest of this winter." said Harry Brook.

The captain then acknowledged the fact that England’s recent performances have disappointed many fans. However, he voiced optimism that England will turn things around quickly, as it is just a matter of a few matches to find their rhythm in ODI cricket.

"It's disappointing for the fans, who want to watch us, we entertain people, because they know that we play such an exciting brand of cricket. It was only a couple of games ago against South Africa in the summer when we got 400, so we're not a million miles away. It's just about a couple of scores here and there and then we nail it down and hopefully we do find that template." said Harry Brook.

England will now take on New Zealand in the last match of the ODI series on November 1. They will work hard to perform better in this clash, as winning the last game will give them plenty of confidence before heading to Australia for the all-important Ashes series.