ANDREW Strauss admitted England had failed to set up a winning platform as they exited the Champions Trophy with a semi-final hammering at the hands of old foes Australia.

Strauss' side recovered from 101 for six to reach 257 thanks to a stand of 107 between Tim Bresnan, who made a career-best ODI score of 80, and Luke Wright (48) but Australia cruised to the target with nine wickets and 8.1 overs to spare.

Opener Shane Watson hammered an unbeaten 136, having earlier taken two wickets for 35 runs, and captain Ricky Ponting made 111 not out in an unbroken stand of 252.

Strauss told Sky Sports 1: "When you lose six wickets for 100 runs it's always going to be hard to stay in the game.

"All credit to Tim Bresnan and Luke Wright for making sure we weren't completely out of the game, but we needed three or four early wickets and we didn't get them.’’ "Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting played magnificently well and they did a thoroughly professional job on us.’’ England scored quickly in the early stages but they paid for their aggression as that flurry of wickets left them with a major rebuilding job.

Strauss was encouraged by their approach, though, and sought to take the positives from a tournament in which his side shocked much-fancied Sri Lanka and hosts South Africa.

He added: "We went out and tried to be positive and unfortunately our shots didn't come off today.

"In some ways we were the architects of our own downfall but I think that method of playing is certainly better than some of the stuff we played in England (in the seven-match NatWest series against Australia).

"We can take a lot from this tournament, I think we've played some good cricket, but ultimately Australia were too strong for us today.’’