| Player: | AJ Strauss |
| Event: | ICC Champions Trophy 2009/10 |
England skipper Andrew Strauss blamed England's poor batting for his side nine-wicket defeat by Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final at Centurion. England tumbled to 101-6 before getting up to 257.
"Our batsmen were to blame on a wicket where we should have been looking at scoring at least 300 runs.
"We tried to be positive but the shots did not come off," said Strauss.
England were indebted to a stand of seventh-wicket stand of 107 between Tim Bresnan (80) and Luke Wright (48) but the innings fell away after their dismissals and ended during their batting powerplay with a run-out in the 48th over.
"We were definitely keen to go out there and play our shots on a very good wicket and unfortunately it didn't come off," added Strauss.
Australia, who have beaten England in seven of their last eight one-day matches, cruised to the target with 8.1 overs to spare thanks to a brutal unbeaten 134 from Watson and a faultless 111 not out from Ponting.
Strauss added: "When you lose six wickets for 100 runs it's always going to be hard to stay in the game.
"All credit to Tim Bresnan and Luke Wright for making sure we weren't completely out of the game, but we needed three or four early wickets and we didn't get them.
"Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting played magnificently well and they did a thoroughly professional job on us.
"We can take a lot from this tournament. I think we've played some good cricket, but ultimately Australia were too strong."