England captain Brook can't 'put my finger on' dismal batting performance in New Zealand ODIs

England white-ball skipper Harry Brook can't think of a reason why they haven't batted well in two ODIs against New Zealand. England lost both the ODIs - scoring 234 in Mount Maungunai thanks to Brook's 135 and 175 in Hamilton. The England batters have clearly failed to adapt to the conditions in New Zealand - seen as precursor to Ashes in Australia which starts November 21. Brook, however, dismissed the notion that toss had anything to do with it and accepted that the Kiwis have 'hammered' them.

Brook on England's dismal batting in Nez Zealand ODIs

"We play aggressively in Test cricket and it's not too far off. Obviously we haven't played much one-day cricket in the last however many years. 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've hammered us," he had said after the loss in first two ODIs as reported by ESPNCricinfo.

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England either go hard or bust

As raised on Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, England have not reached 250 in any ODI innings this year when former skipper Joe Root has failed to reach 50. In the two matches against New Zealand, Root made 2 and 25, respectively. Also, England have been bowled out in of the seven away ODIs played this year - a worrying trend for a team that boasts about going hard. The batting approach is also clear by the fact that England have either scored 350 while batting first in ODIs this year of haven't played all the overs.

Irrespective of whatever is the reason, England must correct the game quickly as there aren't many ODIs left for them to play in the near future and they surely wouldn't want to repeat the performance of 2023 ODI World Cup, come next edition.