It all ended in a cloud of dust for England and Paul Collingwood
Andrew Strauss admitted his team had let slip a big opportunity to draw level with Australia in the second of the seven-match one-day series.
The England captain felt his team were well set with the bat on 74-0 as they chased 250 at Lord's, and said: "We should have won this one.
"We can't let chances like this slip through our fingers.
"We lost wickets at regular intervals. Fair play to Australia but we were the architects of our own downfall."
Strauss batted well to reach 47 as he and Ravi Bopara set an ideal platform after England's bowlers had collectively restricted the Aussies to 249-8.
But neither he nor Bopara could make a big score, and it was left to Paul Collingwood (56) to try and make something of the closing overs after others had started well before making a meaningful contribution.
Strauss reflected: "We were in a good position to win the game comfortably and then we let them back in.
"We keep talking about the batsmen making a score. We haven't done that in two games, we are aware of it and need to get better."
Australia captain Michael Clarke revealed his initial fears that his team had not made a big enough score on a good wicket at Lord's, adding that man-of-the-match Mitchell Johnson's unbeaten 43 from 23 balls at the end was the difference.
"I would have liked 20 or 30 more, but the way the boys bowled today it certainly was enough," he said.
"Mitchell's innings at the end is a winning innings. He got the runs quickly and that gave us a score to defend which we were able to do thanks to the bowlers doing a great job."
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