Sunday 28 January 2018 14:37, UK
Australia captain Steve Smith admitted his side were "outplayed" by England throughout the five-match one-day international series.
The current world champions suffered a 12-run defeat in Sunday's final match in Perth to lose the series 4-1, and Smith felt his team has not been good enough with bat or ball, as epitomised by their display at the new Optus Stadium.
After England raced to 117-1, Australia fought back to bowl Eoin Morgan's side out for 259 but Smith's men fell 12 runs short with Marcus Stoinis (87 off 99 balls) the only batsman to pass 34.
"We thought we'd pulled it back really well, but we didn't start as well with the ball, it has been a bit of trend," Smith said.
"We thought it was very chaseable, but again we lost wickets in clumps and you can't do that against a quality England line-up.
"Our batting again wasn't good enough. These lapses are happening way too often in one-day cricket."
Smith, the current No 1 ranked Test batman who scored 687 runs at an average of 137.4 in the recent Ashes series, has struggled for consistency in the white-ball format, with his highest score of 45 coming in the third ODI in Sydney.
The 28-year-old hinted that the regularity of matches may have been a factor in his performances, but conceded his form has not been good enough in 50 over cricket.
"It's been a long summer," Smith said.
"I haven't been as good in this format, and we've been outplayed, they thoroughly deserved to win."
