England beaten by Australia in Tri-Series: Mitchell Johnson factor is absent in Eoin Morgan's analysis of defeat

Australia won by 112 runs

Australia celebrates their Tri-Series victory (GETTY IMAGES)

Eoin Morgan insists England’s own batsmen cost them the Tri-Series final – not the return of their tormentor Mitchell Johnson.

Johnson was making his first appearance of 2015 and immediately turned back the clock to last winter’s Ashes whitewash, where he was man of the series with 37 wickets.

This time he claimed three scalps, taking out James Taylor, Moeen Ali and captain Morgan in the space of 10 balls as England slumped to 166 all out and a 112-run defeat.

The sight of Johnson wheeling away in celebration will bring most England fans out in a cold sweat but Morgan went out of his way to avoid praising the destructive left-armer.

With most of the current one-day squad not involved during the previous Ashes, the idea of mental scarring is a red herring, but Morgan’s suggestion that England had not given any special thought to facing Johnson rang hollow in the aftermath of the defeat.

His suggestion that Johnson could have been “anybody” profiting from English mistakes also seemed to stretch credibility. “I think it probably could have been anybody bowling,” said Morgan, who was bowled offering no stroke by the 33-year-old.

Eoin Morgan looks on after the crushing defeat (GETTY IMAGES)

“I don’t think he swung it. We must have put ourselves under pressure. I don’t know why we performed like this.

“We chatted about the opposition very briefly as we’ve played against them so much in the past. I don’t think we were threatened that much today. We were poor.” Morgan was eager to present a counter-narrative after Australia continued their victorious run against the tourists. They have now won all three meetings in the Tri-Series, underlining the dominance they established in 2013-14.

The sides next face off on 14 February in the World Cup, but Morgan insists it is Australia who go into that match with most to lose.

“I think the pressure builds on Australia from that perspective,” he said. “They’re a home side, their first game of the World Cup, playing against a dangerous side. We’re going out all guns blazing, there’s no pressure from our point of view.” The Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who top-scored with 95 and took 4 for 46 with his pick-and-mix off-spin, was baffled by Morgan’s comments. When it was put to Maxwell that England had apparently been unconcerned about Johnson’s efforts he said: “They should be... he had 3 for 11 at one stage and tore through their top order. They can be not worried at all but if they’re getting skittled by him they probably should be.”

Mitchell Johnson celebrates after taking the wicket of the England captain, Eoin Morgan, on Sunday (GETTY IMAGES)

The England coach, Peter Moores, who will give the squad four days off before preparations begin again for the World Cup, echoed Morgan in his appraisal of the batting display.

“The lads were really up for the game and a chance to play in the final and, obviously, today we didn’t play well enough,” he said.

“We just didn’t bat well enough and we got the best of the pitch as well. A top score of 33 [from Ravi Bopara] just isn’t good enough and we have to take that on the chin and look at the reasons why it happened. “We didn’t put any partnerships together and put any pressure on the Australia bowlers so we didn’t really get into the position where we could have a go at that total.”

The only downside for Australia was a side injury to James Faulkner, who hit an unbeaten 50 and dismissed Joe Root with his first ball.

“He’s pretty down at the moment with such an amazing thing coming up for us – a home World Cup,” said Maxwell.

“I know a few of us out there were hurting for him when he went off. We can only hope that it is nothing and he’s being soft and he gets back and trains hard with us next week.”