Bresnan returns home as England try to keep calm

Bresnan suffered the complaint during the 46-run defeat in Hobart on Friday when he was forced to bat with a runner.

Scans on the injury yesterday revealed the all-rounder had torn the muscle and will return to England to begin his recovery ahead of next month's World Cup.

Bresnan is expected to be fit for the tournament, with England's first game against Holland on February 22.

In his absence Steven Finn will remain in Australia as cover instead of joining the England Lions on their tour of the Caribbean.

Bresnan's injury comes as another blow to England's bowling ranks with front-liners Stuart Broad (stomach), Graeme Swann (knee) and James Anderson (rested) all out of action, while batsman Kevin Pietersen missed yesterday's third defeat in Sydney due to a groin injury.

All are expected to return before the World Cup though with Anderson set to return for Wednesday's fourth match in Adelaide after completing his scheduled rest.

Swann is likely to miss at least another week with a knee injury he picked up during the Twenty20 internationals while Broad has rejoined the squad in Australia to complete his recovery from the injury he sustained in the second Ashes Test.

The right-armer is not, however, expected to be fit to play until the World Cup warm-up games in the sub-continent.

It was another poor batting display that cost England as they lost the third match in Sydney by four wickets, to trail the seven-match series 3-0.

Only a defiant unbeaten 84 from Jonathan Trott, who batted through the innings after coming in during the first over, helped England reach 214 all out from 48 overs.

It proved too few for a depleted attack to defend, despite reducing Australia to 100-5 at one stage, as half-centuries from Brad Haddin and David Hussey were enough to ensure the hosts chased down the target with four overs to spare and move to the brink of winning the series.

While England will welcome the return of Anderson in Adelaide, a second-string attack was not to blame for the defeat after soft dismissals again undermined their batting with Trott, who at one stage hit 40 consecutive singles, the only batsman to grit his teeth as they failed to see out their full quota for the third successive game.

Despite the heavy defeat, England captain Andrew Strauss

insisted he will not be drawn into a sense of panic despite his side's World Cup preparations threatening to unravel.

Strauss admitted his batsmen had again let his side down, after they were also bundled out for 184 in Hobart on Friday, but denied they needed to change an attacking approach that had seen them win their previous six one-day series.

"It's not the time to panic," said Strauss.

"I still want us to play positive, aggressive, attacking cricket. That's the only way we are going to succeed in Australia or in the World Cup. I don't want too many of our batsmen scratching their heads wondering whether they should play a shot or not.

"I want them to play with freedom. If we keep doing that and keep believing then I think things will turn around.

"Now's the time that you have got confidence in players rather than damage them."

He added: "You have to give credit to the way Australia have bowled. We haven't been as smart as we should have been.

"It's a strange game the game of cricket. All I can say is we need to look forward and improve. There's no point us crying into our cornflakes tomorrow morning.

"We have to get ourselves up, move on to Adelaide and play better."

Strauss denied that his team were showing signs of a post-Ashes malaise and ruled out fatigue as a reason for their faltering fortunes.

"Both sets of players have played the same amount of cricket over the course of the summer. If fatigue is setting in, then that's not good enough," he said. "I haven't noticed that personally.

"I think the guys have been pretty buoyant. We've got a little bit of a changeover in personnel as well.

"We have a lot of cricket ahead of us, not just in this series but the World Cup as well."

With England's World Cup opener against Holland less than a month away Strauss admitted that managing the players' workload was crucial, but refused to criticise a protracted schedule in Australia that sees them playing two Twenty20s and seven one-dayers after their Ashes success.

"We knew the itinerary before we came. It hasn't changed," he said. "You've got to manage heavy schedules. You can't just throw your hands up and say 'we can't compete'.

"It's our job as a management to manage our players through that the best we can.

"There is a lot of cricket played around the world every year, not just this year.

"That's not going to change either, it's about managing the situation rather than complaining."

DISPLAY OF THE DAY

David Hussey

After failing with the bat in both the two Twenty20 games and the previous one-day internationals, the pressure was on Hussey to deliver the goods, particularly when Australia slipped to 100-5. He duly delivered with a calm, match-winning knock of 68 not out.