Morgan striving for consistency

Eoin Morgan believes England's prospects in one-day cricket have long been undermined by a lack of consistency, but promised "anything is possible" if the batsmen can start producing some much-needed centuries.

Morgan top-scored for England with a dashing 58 at Trent Bridge on Tuesday but that was not enough to prevent Australia collecting a fifth consecutive NatWest series victory.

"The thing that English cricket has always lacked in one-day cricket is consistency," said Morgan. "We are capable of fantastic performances here and there but have failed to find that level where we can continue to win games."

He added: "I think that is why we haven't won enough games to win major tournaments and it is something we are striving for at the moment in the dressing room.

"I think hard work and perseverance will get us that consistency eventually and we can't shy away from that. If we remain focused on what we want to achieve and dedicate ourselves to it then anything is possible."

The side that played on Tuesday had just four England hundreds between them, with Morgan also scoring one for Ireland, compared to Ricky Ponting's 27 for Australia.

Morgan concedes that is an area for improvement.

"Certainly in the good one-day sides the top six are earmarked to get the hundreds. If one of you gets in then the idea is to go on and get a hundred," said Morgan.

"The pressure of the situation perhaps gets to us and ultimately it comes down to decision-making and then the execution of the shot. That is where we continue to fail.

"I'd love to be able to put my finger on why that is happening, but it is something that seems to be continuing with our batsmen and I don't know the answer."