Harry Brook absolved England’s gung-ho batsmen after a middle-order landslide led to a heavy defeat in his first game as captain.
Australia raced to a seven-wicket win with six overs to spare after chasing down England’s 315 all out at Trent Bridge in the opening one-day international - after Brook’s men had been 213-2 with 17 overs left.
The rookie England skipper watched a procession of middle-order big hitters hole out against the Aussies’ nagging spinners but insisted: "We are out there to score runs. If you get caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field then who cares?
"On another day those (shots) could go for six so I'm not too fussed about that. Obviously it was grabbing in the pitch but another day we hit them for six.
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“They hit a few in the air and they landed safely so we were a little bit unlucky. We want to entertain - obviously we care but if you get out trying to score runs that's the way we want to play.”
Of his first outing as captain, Brook said: “It was good fun - not the start we would have wanted but it's a five-match series.”
England white-ball coach Marcus Trescothick said: “We did some nice things - but not for long enough periods that win games.
“Harry has been really enjoyable to work with, we’ve seen a little taste of his methods and the attacking nature he wants to bring to the team. That fits very well into the mantra of what this England team is about.”
Brook’s bowlers had no answer to Travis Head’s brilliant unbeaten 154, and the Aussie opener’s mannerism after reaching his sixth ODI ton mirrored West Indies legend Chris Gayle’s helmet-on-a-stick celebration.
Head said: ‘it’s a private joke and I’d prefer to keep it in the sheds. But I hope I can do it a few more times in this series.”
