Stuart Broad, ever the optimist, believes England can still take something away from their forgettable tour of Australia, despite a 13-run defeat in their Twenty20 series opener in Hobart.
An under-strength Australia blasted 213 for four on the back of a century opening stand between Cameron White (75) and Aaron Finch (52) to set England a record Twenty20 chase. The tourists made a sluggish start in pursuit and only Ravi Bopara's 65 from 27 balls, including seven sixes, thinned the eventually margin of defeat to 13 runs.
England must now win in Melbourne on Friday to keep the series alive, and avoid series defeats in all three formats against Australia this winter. The captain is confident, though, that his young side can do just that, and took confidence from the fact they managed to reach 200 for nine despite losing early wickets.
"Thirteen runs isn't a huge defeat," said Broad. "I know it was glossed over a little bit by Ravi's hitting at the end. We didn't get moving as a batting unit but to still get 200 runs actually gives us quite a bit of confidence. We have to bounce back and we have to win at the MCG to stay in this series. I'm pretty confident we can do that.
"We're very disappointed but a big strength of this side in particular, and the records show that, is we do come back from disappointments and losses pretty well. That will be what we have to do at the MCG."
England were let down in the field again - a familiar tale - as Joe Root dropped a White edge at first slip when the batsman had scored just 10.
"Putting down Cameron White and for him to then go and get 70-odd hurt us," Broad sighed. "We have to find a way to take early wickets."
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