CAPTAIN Paul Collingwood blamed England’s batsmen as their record run of Twenty20 victories was ended by a fourrun defeat against Australia in Melbourne.

The tourists narrowly failed to chase down Australia’s 147 for seven after a mid-innings malaise, which Collingwood was certain cost his team a ninth successive victory in the shortest form of the game.

After Ian Bell and Steven Davies had set the platform for victory with an opening stand of 60 from 46 balls, England’s run-rate slowed appreciably as they managed 53 runs in the next 10 overs, while losing six wickets.

That left them needing 18 from Brett Lee’s final over and while Chris Woakes kept up hopes with a six, Tim Bresnan could not deliver a similar blow that was required from the last ball.

‘‘We were quite happy at half-time with chasing down a score like that but we were 10- 20 per cent off our batting tonight,’’ Collingwood said.

‘‘I thought we could win, especially after the first six overs when Bell and Davies set a good platform.

‘‘But in those middle overs we had a lot of dot balls. They resorted to bowling a lot of cutters so it made it difficult for us to get the boundaries at the right time.

‘‘We couldn’t get the boundaries and started holing out after that.

‘‘I think if we were given that score any time we’d want to chase that down.’’ While disappointed to see the end of his side’s record run, which began during their successful World Twenty20 campaign last May, Collingwood denied that defeat represented any kind of setback ahead of the seven-match oneday series, which begins at Melbourne tomorrow.

‘‘We’ve had a good run in the Twenty20 format of the game. It’s disappointing not to have won the game,’’ but we’re all looking forward to one-day series,” he said. “I can safely say we are still playing some good cricket.

‘‘We would have loved to have won but I don’t think it has hit our momentum too much.

‘‘We did some good stuff and we were just off the mark with the batting.

‘‘Andrew Strauss takes over the reins again and we are looking forward to this series.

‘‘It is a big series for us going into the World Cup.’’ Spinners Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy had put the brakes on a brisk Australia start as they both returned figures of two for 19 from their four overs.

But where England failed to find the boundaries late in their innings Aaron Finch, playing his second game, blasted an unbeaten 53 from 33 balls.

Finch smashed four fours and two sixes and Collingwood admitted the 24-yearold’s hitting had proved decisive.

‘‘He hits a long ball. He hits it in good areas and he’s a dangerous player,’’ said Collingwood, who made only six as his run of low scores continued.

‘‘He hits it pretty hard and he’s a good fielder. It was a good innings.

‘‘It shifted the momentum a bit going into the halfway mark. He seems a good player.’’ The MCG is Finch’s home ground for state side Victoria and he admitted local knowledge had helped him construct his match-winning innings.

‘‘This ground is suited to orthodox cricket shots,’’ he said.

‘‘You’ve got short straight boundaries and wider square so it encourages you to play with good technique and hit through the line with good cricket shots.

‘‘You get value for shots here when you play that way.’’ The victory was also the first for new Australia Twenty20 skipper Cameron White, after his side lost his debut game by one wicket on the final ball in Adelaide.

It was Australia’s second win over England during a miserable winter that has seen the Ashes lost on home soil.

‘‘I thought our score was about par or a little under,”

said White.

Scoreboard

Australia v England At Melbourne

Australia

D A Warner c Pietersen b Yardy ............30

S R Watson c Morgan b Woakes ...........17

T D Paine c Collingwood b Swann ........21

D J Hussey c Woakes b Yardy .............. 8

C L White lbw b Swann ............... 0

A J Finch not out ............53

S P Smith c Collingwood b Shahzad ....13

S N O’Keefe b Bresnan ......................... 1

M G Johnson not out ............................ 1

Extras (lb2 w1 pens 0)................. 3

Total 7 wkts Innings Complete (20 overs)....147

Fall: 1-37 2-63 3-72 4-74 5-80 6-131 7-138

Did Not Bat: S W Tait.

Bowling: Woakes 3-0-29-1. Shahzad 3-0- 34-1. Bresnan 4-0-27-1. Swann 4-0-19-2.

Yardy 4-0-19-2. Pietersen 2-0-17-0.

England

I R Bell b Johnson .............39

S M Davies c Warner b Watson .............29

K P Pietersen c White b Johnson .......... 1

P D Collingwood c Warner b Watson .... 6

E J Morgan c Finch b Johnson .............14

L J Wright c Smith b Tait ........18

T T Bresnan not out ..........15

C R Woakes not out ...........11

Extras (lb2 w6 nb2 pens 0)..........10

Total 6 wkts Innings Complete (20 overs) ..143

Fall: 1-60 2-62 3-74 4-88 5-111 6-113

Did Not Bat: M H Yardy, G P Swann, A Shahzad.

Bowling: Tait 4-0-39-1. Lee 4-0-29-0. Watson 4-0-17-2. Johnson 4-0-29-3. Hussey 3- 0-18-0. O’Keefe 1-0-9-0.

Australia beat England by 4 runs.