Jos Buttler insisted England still have "optimism and belief" despite their one-day woes continuing after Josh Inglis powered Australia to victory in Lahore. England's 351 for eight after being asked to bat first, underpinned by Ben Duckett's magnificent 165 off 143 balls, were respectively the highest team and individual scores in Champions Trophy history.
Australia lurched to 136 for four but Inglis, born and bred in Yorkshire before moving to Perth just before turning 15, crashed an unbeaten 120 off 86 balls to lift his side to a stunning five-wicket win. England's 17th loss in their last 24 ODIs, including all of the last five, leaves them likely needing to beat Afghanistan and South Africa in their last two group stage contests to reach the semi-finals.
Buttler said: "The longer (the losing run) goes on, the closer you get to winning and the optimism and belief is very much there in the team. "Sometimes you put in a really good performance but the opposition are desperate to win and can play well, too. It was a fantastic chase and Josh Inglis played a brilliant innings.
"To put 350 on the board, I thought was a great effort. You have to be proud of the way we performed and give credit to the opposition for just being a little bit better and getting over the line. "We'll let the dust settle on this, (and then) we'll plan well, keep the boys upbeat, dust ourselves down and go again. The way this competition is set up, every game is a must-win.".
Travis Head and Steve Smith were kept to a combined 11 runs but Buttler admitted the evening dew, which descended during a 146-run stand in 116 balls between Inglis and Alex Carey, played into Australia's hands. On a true pitch where batting conditions improved under the floodlights, Carey contributed 69 after being dropped on 49 by Jofra Archer, who put down a simple chance, perhaps because of the wet ball.
Buttler said: "I thought we had a really good score. The way the wicket played in the daytime, a little bit of indifferent bounce and the ball wasn't coming on quite so well. "But once the dew came in and how much it came in, it did start to skid on a bit more in the second half.".
England thought they were in the driving seat thanks to a monumental effort by Duckett, who thumped 17 fours and three sixes to anchor the innings and record England's best score at an ICC event. He put on 158 in 155 balls with Joe Root, who made 68, and a total approaching 400 beckoned but Harry Brook, Buttler and Liam Livingstone contributed a combined 40 and only Archer's cameo of 21 not out off 10 deliveries got them past 350.
It was the highest score England have failed to defend in this format and Buttler commiserated with Duckett, an all-format regular who is set to open the batting in next winter's much-anticipated Ashes. Buttler said: "There won't be too many times you score 165 and end up on the losing side. Getting his chance in ODIs at the top of the order, I think his game is perfectly suited to scoring big, big runs.
"I was asked before the tournament and I said I think he could be the first Englishman to score a double hundred in ODI cricket. "An innings like this one should really prove to him how consistent he can be and how many runs he can score in this format.
"It's a big year for English cricket and he's going to be at the forefront of it. To start as he has done and looking ahead, I'm sure England fans will be excited to watch him bat for the rest of the year.". Inglis, who previously averaged 23.61 in 27 ODIs with a high score of 65, got Australia over the line in front of a 26,232-crowd with 15 balls to spare by bludgeoning his sixth six, to go with eight fours.
