Flintoff laments batting failure

Flintoff got a start but his team failed to cash in with a good total

England captain Andrew Flintoff said his side were 40 runs short of pushing Australia even harder in their one-day international in Brisbane.

Australia won by four wickets after falling to 108-6 in pursuit of 156.

"You can't fault the second half, the way we started with the ball was fantastic," said Flintoff.

"But the first innings cost us. If we had got close to 200 it could have been a different game. To beat Australia we have to get both disciplines in order."

Interview: England debutant batsman Mal Loye

Interview: England's Andrew Flintoff

He added: "The Australians bowled well, they put it in good areas and we probably showed a bit of inexperience with our batting. We could have stuck in for a bit longer.

"The bowling was good here and in Melbourne we batted alright - we just have to get a combination of the two of them now."

The England skipper was full of praise for debutant batsman Mal Loye and fast bowler James Anderson, both county team-mates at Lancashire.

The 34-year-old was drafted into the squad after Kevin Pietersen's rib injury.

He's bowling quicker, swinging the ball again and is probably the Jimmy Anderson we knew when he first came into the side Andrew Flintoff

"It's not easy coming from first-class cricket in New Zealand and to be thrown into a one-day international against Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath," Flintoff said.

"He didn't look out of place and was a real plus.

"Mal has performed at county level for Lancashire, is highly rated within our county, and with performances like that hopefully he can kick on and score big scores for us.

"Jimmy has come back from injury and over the past few weeks something has clicked with him.

"He's bowling a lot quicker, he's swinging the ball again and is probably the Jimmy Anderson we knew when he first came into the side."

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Anderson finished with 2-29 off his 10 overs and might also have removed Michael Hussey, who appeared to edge behind on 19 before finishing unbeaten on 46.

"I know he nicked it, he told me," Anderson revealed. "They still needed quite a few runs and he's one of their main batters who they rely on to see the innings through.

"Maybe if we'd got him it might have been a different story.

"Swing's the most important thing for me. Once I've got the ball swinging I can crank up the pace a bit.

"I've worked hard on my inswing in the last few months and I've finally got the confidence to start bowling it in games. "