England conceded an unassailable 2-0 lead to hosts New Zealand in the ongoing three-match ODI series with one game to play on Saturday, November 1, at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. Harry Brook, the captain
of England, who is known to take wins and losses into his stride without giving away much to the media, revealed his disappointment at the ODI series result in his latest interview, talking about how his teammates could make any team in the world but weren’t able to perform at their best.
Notably, in the first ODI in Mount Maunganui, England could only post 223 runs on the board despite a magnificent 135 from Harry Brook of just 101 with nine fours and 11 sixes only to allow New Zealand to chase the runs with four wickets in hand and 80 balls to spare. The second ODI in Hamilton saw England get bowled out for just 175 runs before the hosts reached the target in 33.1 overs while losing only five wickets.
You come to play the second-best team in the world on their own patch and they have hammered us: Harry Brook
With these two results, Harry Brook lost the second straight ODI series as captain after taking over the role earlier this year from Jos Buttler while it was the sixth series loss for his team in last seven competed in. When a question was asked to him about whether he isn’t happy with his players, he remarked, “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,” he added. The England captain also struggled for answers about why they couldn’t play well and said, “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 have hammered us.”
Although the ODI cricket will take a backseat for England after the conclusion of the third match of the series at the start of next month with the five-match Ashes Test series against Australia set to commence at the Optus Stadium in Perth on November 21.
