Australia batsman George Bailey insisted on Tuesday morale was still high despite being “outplayed” by England and they remain confident of winning the series.

England are seeking a seventh consecutive home series triumph in 50-over internationals and have given themselves every chance after taking a 2-0 lead in the five-match clash with comfortable wins over Michael Clarke’s men.

But Bailey is enthused by the atmosphere around the group even though results might suggest their demeanour would be more negative.

England would go to No.1 in the world in all three formats with a 5-0 triumph.

“The risk is you get on the bus and there’s a really quiet group and it’s a down-sinking ship, thinking ‘what do we do now’,” Bailey told reporters ahead of Wednesday’s crunch match at Edgbaston, which is threatened by rain.

“But the mood in the camp is not like that, it’s really upbeat, there’s joking, there’s banter and there’s talk about what we can do differently and the things we are going to try.

“And that to me suggests a team that still believes it can come back and win this series. If we play as well as we should, it will be very difficult for them to win 5-0.”

Bailey acknowledged that Australia have been “out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded” but in that disappointment he takes comfort that there is still much room for improvement.

“They are doing the basics better than us,” he added. “But that’s the exciting thing about the way we feel, because we haven’t played very good cricket yet or as good cricket as we can.

That’s the opportunity we have in the next three games.”

And Bailey also had a word of encouragement for his fellow Tasmanian, spinner Xavier Doherty, who has received some aggressive treatment from the England batsmen so far.

“They’re not letting him settle and that’s something we’re talking about with the way we play Graeme Swann,” Bailey said.

“They’re really challenging ‘Doey’ from the moment he comes on, they’re not giving him an over or two to get into his rhythm and set the fields he wants.

“He’s probably feeling that pressure a bit. That’s a challenge for him but I have seen a lot of him and every time he has been challenged he normally finds a way to respond.”