Skipper Andrew Flintoff was mystified by England's poor batting form as they collapsed to a 90-run defeat against New Zealand in the CB Series."We started the game well but in the second half we didn't perform as well as we can do," he said.
"The pitch was a little bit tricky but you can't put it down to that.
"It wasn't a 120 all out pitch and Ed Joyce showed us what could be done. He played really nicely. The rest of us were below-par."
England face Australia in their next match and the only encouragement they could take was the performance of their bowlers, who bowled out New Zealand for 210.
Flintoff picked up four wickets and there was a tidy spell of 1-31 from Jon Lewis, who bowled his 10 overs in a single spell because of a slight strain.
But an innings of 86 off 89 balls by all-rounder Jacob Oram enabled the Kiwis to post a total which ultimately proved well beyond England's capabilities.
England never recovered from the early loss of Mal Loye, one of three wickets to fall in the first 11 overs of their reply, and the tail was unable to offer any prolonged resistance as they were dismissed for 120.
"In the first 20 overs when you're trying to make use of the power plays, if you lose three or four wickets, it's hard to keep it going," said Flintoff.
"We know we have got to score more runs. It's frustrating for all of us - the lads are trying their damnedest to win games."
The result left England on the bottom of the triangular series table, and Flintoff acknowledged they needed to put in a better performance against the hosts.
"Every game we play is big now - we desperately want to be in the finals," he said.
"We have to keep backing our ability and have no fear of expressing ourselves in the middle.
"It has been a tough trip for some, there is no getting away from it, but we have to remain confident, believe we are good players and score runs."
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