England vs New Zealand: Harry Brook says ‘there are no excuses’ for batsmen’s poor performance in ODI series defeat | Cricket News

Harry Brook says the dire circumstances cannot be used as an “excuse” for England’s batting line-up, who suffered a disastrous one-day defeat in the international series in New Zealand.

The Black Caps took a solid 2-0 lead with Saturday’s (1am BST) game in Wellington, with Brook’s side on 223 points against Tauranga and 175 against Hamilton.

England batted in both matches, but when asked if that was a factor in their failure, the captain, who hit an astonishing 135 off 101 balls in the series opener, said, “Everyone in the batting line-up is capable enough to face the swinging seam balls.”

“In my eyes, it’s just an excuse. They’re capable enough to deal with it and score.

“So you go around and look at each player and think, ‘Oh my God, there are very few teams in the world that don’t have them.’ They just aren’t performing well enough.”

“It’s disappointing for the fans who want to watch us. We play an exciting brand of cricket that entertains people.

“We got 400 points just a few games ago against South Africa in the summer, so it’s not a million miles away. It’s just a matter of scoring a few here and there and then making sure we score.”

England’s 2027 World Cup qualification is in doubt

England have lost 13 of their last 18 ODIs, were bowled out within 50 overs in seven of their eight away matches in 2025, and are not guaranteed a place in the 2027 Africa World Cup.

Brook’s side are likely to be overtaken by West Indies and Bangladesh due to their eighth place in the table, in which case they will have to participate in a qualifying tournament to qualify for the World Cup.

Over the next 13 months, England will play at home against India and Sri Lanka, and away to Sri Lanka, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan.

The captain further added, “It’s not that dissimilar to the way we play in Test cricket. We play aggressive in Test cricket and that’s not far off.”

“Obviously we haven’t played a lot of one-day cricket over the years. I’m not entirely sure why we haven’t been batting enough. It’s just one of those things.”