Strauss demands more from England

Captain Andrew Strauss urged his batsmen to wise up after another failure to knock off a modest target put England 2-0 down to Australia in the NatWest Series.

England were progressing promisingly on 74 without loss, in pursuit of 250 at Lord's, only to slump spectacularly to 97 for four on their way to a 39-run loss.

"At 70-odd for nought we were in a good position to come home quite comfortably but to a certain extent we were the architects of our own downfall," said Strauss. "Four reasonably soft wickets in a short space of time meant we were suddenly in a situation where you are asking bowlers to score runs for you."

He added: "Everyone has got a start in the two games but has not gone on.

"I don't think it's a lack of confidence, just that we haven't been smart enough in what our percentage shots are.

"I firmly believe your top six has to score the bulk of your runs and we have not done that.

"We have been in the game at the halfway point and at times in the batting phase we have looked favourites to win both games but all credit to Australia, they kept coming at us, created chances and took wickets."

Such was the demise on Sunday that England could not get two batsmen set to invoke the batting powerplay, which meant it was taken in the 45th over with last man James Anderson at the crease.

Paul Collingwood, who signalled something of a return to form with 56, was last out when he was yorked by Brett Lee, attempting an aggressive stroke.

In contrast, implementing the powerplay late in the innings had its benefits for Australia, with Mitchell Johnson slamming an unbeaten 43 off just 23 balls, to earn the man-of-the-match award.