England stare at another whitewash but rally round Cook

PERTH, Jan 22 (AFP): England will be battling to avoid another series whitewash in the fourth one-day game against Australia Friday, and are rallying round their beleaguered captain.

Australia triumphed by seven wickets with 10 overs to spare in the third one-dayer in Sydney Sunday to sweep the series 3-0, with Alastair Cook admitting for the first time he will reconsider his captaincy after the weekend's final 50-overs match in Adelaide.

But England spinner James Tredwell says the team that also lost the Ashes 5-0 still has some fight left in it and supports Cook.

"We've spoken a lot about pushing back and giving them a bit of their medicine," Tredwell said.

"We're trying to be really honest with ourselves. We understand that we've not been good enough on this tour.

"It's now looking forward to how we improve that and look forward to the upcoming games, not only in this series, but the rest of this year going in towards the World Cup next year."

Tredwell said England needed to be strong and turn things around.

"No-one likes losing. The Aussies have shown that. They've spoken about how the pain can drive you. We'll certainly be trying to use that to our advantage."

Tredwell underlined that the team had urged Cook to remain at the helm despite his doubts.

"We were all down after the last game ... Alastair more than most," Tredwell said.

"As captain you do tend to take a lot of that on yourself.

"But we've had a really good chat and he was at the forefront of that, and we want him to take charge going forward."