Strauss blames shortage of a seamer for loss to Australia

England captain Andrew Strauss admitted his team were a seam bowler short as they slipped to a second one-day international defeat to Australia in Hobart yesterday.


England skipper Andrew Strauss leaves the field after being LBW by
Australia's Doug Bollinger during the second ODI yesterday. Pic/AFP

Shaun Marsh kept Australia's innings together after they threatened to fall apart at various points, hitting 110 in a total of 230 to which tail-ender Doug Bollinger added an excellent run-a-ball 30. Bollinger then took the wickets of Strauss and Kevin Pietersen as part of a four-wicket haul to seal a 46-run victory which leaves the hosts 2-0 up in the seven-match series heading into Sunday's third match in Sydney.

England lined up with spinners Michael Yardy and James Tredwell in their attack with a view to giving them match practice ahead of the World Cup in the sub-continent, but Strauss accepted in hindsight that had probably been an error.

Strauss told Sky Sports: "We will have to regroup pretty quickly for Sydney. We were probably a seamer short to be honest. We have to look at what we did wrong today.

"We might not have set the field so far back for Marsh at the start of the powerplay. You always look back at things when you have lost, ultimately we put ourselves in a good position with the ball and we should have been better with the bat as well. Shaun Marsh played exceptionally well. We still could have chased 230 but we didn't go about it well."