Harry Brook said he felt relieved when his maiden ODI century paved the way for his first win as England captain.
After heavy defeats to world champions Australia at Trent Bridge and Headingley, England needed to win at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday to keep the five-match series alive.
Brook came in to bat after Australia's fast bowler Mitchell Starc had dismissed both the openers and England were 11/2.
But the 25-year-old Yorkshire player played a brilliant unbeaten innings of 110 runs. He got a great support from Will Jacks and they made a match-changing partnership of 156 runs.
By the time rain delayed England's target of 305, they had done enough to win by 46 runs based on the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method.
It was further proof of Brook's talent and composure, as the rookie captain led England in the series in place of the injured Jos Buttler and this was just his 18th ODI.
Brook was happy to be back scoring runs.
“I'm definitely relieved,” he told reporters. “It felt good to get my first hundred and hopefully there will be many more to come.”
“I feel like I've been a bit off and on this summer. I've gotten off to a point where I've scored in the 30s and 40s a lot and haven't been able to capitalise on that, which is frustrating.
“After doing it today I feel like I'm back in a good position. Obviously it's nice to score runs against Australia but it's amazing to score runs no matter who it is against.”
Brook was criticised for his post-match comments after England's defeat in the series opener in Nottingham, when he tried to explain away some loose dismissals by saying: “Who cares if you're caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field?”
But Brooke insisted he had been misunderstood.
“I think people took it a little bit the wrong way,” he said. “You have to go out there and play fearlessly and almost have a 'Who cares?' attitude, but it shouldn't be a 'Who cares if we lose?' attitude. We all want to win, but you don't want to go out there and be afraid of getting knocked out.
“You have seen it so many times in Test matches, initially Stokes was getting caught at mid-on which was never seen before, so you have to go out there with that fearless attitude and try to dominate the bowlers.”
Australia coach Andrew McDonald was rued by the absence of key spinner Adam Zampa, who was a late departure due to illness, which saw England end his side's run of 14 consecutive ODI wins.
MacDonald had no doubts about Brook's quality, saying: “Full credit to Harry. He's an impressive player and is going to have a long career for England.”
“He will give us some headaches all through the journey. The way he played, the way he led today… sometimes you have to take your hat off to the opposition. This is one of those moments.”
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