Wellington, Nov 1 (IANS) Harry Brook reflected on his team’s loss to New Zealand as the BlackCaps whitewashed England in an ODI series for the first time in 42 years, and said that his side did well by ‘nearly’ defending the low score. After losing a rain-marred T20I series at home against the same opponents, New Zealand ended their three-match ODI series on a high.

While Brook was among the top performers for the team in the first two games, the skipper failed to fire in the final ODI played on Saturday. However, the English bowlers did a good job and kept the hosts on the edge, but eventually lost the game by two wickets.

Speaking after the loss, Brook said, “I thought it was an amazing game of cricket out at the back end. For us to nearly defend that score, which probably wasn’t quite enough, was a great effort from the lads. That’s obviously one thing we’ve spoken about (not getting starts with the bat). We didn’t quite get big enough scores to be able to defend them and give the bowlers the best chance to win us the game. So, yeah, we’ll go back and we’ll take the learnings that we’ve made from this trip here, and we’ll try our best to be better in the future.”

England failed to win a single ODI in the series. Their batting flaws were on full display as the team was bowled out for low totals throughout the series. While the Kiwi bowlers did a commendable job, England’s struggle in the format continued, and Brook believes that the team wasn’t ‘good enough.’

“It probably didn’t help that I didn’t win a toss as well. It favoured the toss a little bit. So, you know, they’re the second-best team in the world for a reason. They’ve outplayed us this series. We just haven’t been good enough. And, like I said, hopefully we just bounce back,” he added.

The 26-year-old also noted that the pitches in New Zealand were challenging during the series, giving the home team a significant advantage. “They were tricky, obviously. They had quite a bit in them that their guys are swinging the ball and getting the most out of the pitch. So, yeah, it was tricky, but we’ve got to find ways in the future. If we want to be one of the best teams in the world and win world competitions, we need to find a way,” he concluded.

–IANS

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