No excuse for poor fielding - Strauss - Sport in brief

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England put themselves in a strong position to claim a breakthrough win in the already-conceded series against Australia when they made 299 all out, batting first in Tuesday's day-night match. But a masterful century from Ricky Ponting helped guide the tourists past their victory target with four wickets and 10 balls to spare.

"The fielding was poor, to be honest," Strauss admitted. "That's something there should be no excuse for. I do know we work very hard on our fielding, and we fell short of the standards we set ourselves."

Strauss also conceded there was little he could do in the face of Ponting's onslaught as the Tasmanian cantered to 126 off just 109 balls - and the Australia captain's 133-run partnership with his deputy Michael Clarke (52), which used just 134 balls, proved equally decisive.

"The bowling could have been better, but Ponting and Clarke in particular played exceptionally well," Strauss added.

"They put Australia in a position to win, and then at the back end we weren't able to apply as much pressure as we would have liked - because our fielding let us down."

After his team's troubled series so far with the bat, Strauss was at least happy to reflect on a better display - in which Eoin Morgan's 41-ball 58 was the highlight.

"There were some bits of today that were encouraging," the England captain insisted. "I thought our batsmen went out and played with a bolder approach, and that paid dividends.

"Eoin Morgan in particular embodies that. I thought he played exceptionally well. It's the way he's played for Middlesex in the past, so that was encouraging.

"I thought we were closer to our potential today as a batting unit."