Don't write us off for Cup yet: Paine

Australia have been humbled 5-0 by England but captain Tim Paine has warned against writing off the chances of a sixth World Cup crown.

Paine admitted the whitewash "stings" but insisted there was "light at the end of the tunnel" with a chastened Australian ODI side set to be bolstered by several first-choice players for their next engagement.

Australia put in their worst batting performance of the tour at Old Trafford on Sunday to reach just 205 and were bowled out in the 35th over.

But they followed it with easily their best bowling performance of the series and reduced England to 4-27, then 6-86, and 8-114 by the 30th over.

But they couldn't finish the job as Jos Buttler struck an unbeaten 110 to steer England home with one wicket in hand and eight balls to spare.

"For the majority of the innings we bowled really well, really straight, bowled a good length and created chances," said Paine.

"I just think there was half an hour there where we bowled a touch wide. But apart from that I felt like our bowlers were outstanding today and certainly not to blame for the loss.

"But again in this game we have shown glimpses with bat and ball that there is certainly some real talent in the squad.

"And while it has been a bitterly disappointing series, I suppose (there is) a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel."

Travis Head struck his third half-century of the tour, but failed to pass 63 in any of his knocks, and D'Arcy Short hit his straps after intense tutelage with Ricky Ponting in the Australian nets to make an unbeaten 47 batting in the lower order.

Billy Stanlake ripped through England's top order with 3-18 in his opening five-over spell and Kane Richardson returned to the side to claim 3-51 and a tactical ploy to open with Ashton Agar against in-form opener Jason Roy reaped dividends when he was bowled in the first over.

But the batting again failed against spin, with Moeen Ali taking 4-46 as he and Adil Rashid both finished the series with 12 wickets.

Having put on 60 for the first wicket, Australia were soon 5-100 when the captain was brilliantly run out by his opposite number in Buttler, and lost their last five wickets for 46.

"We haven't been able to put a full game together at any stage and I think it has shown throughout the whole series," Paine said.

"Every time England's good players have put us under pressure, with the bat or the ball, we have stumbled a little bit, and that's probably again what happened today.

"We got off to a great start then Moeen came on, who has had a pretty good series against us, and guys are probably just over-thinking it a bit.

"He ends up with 4-40 again and we are in trouble again and have to re-build a bit. "

Fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins plus allrounder Mitchell Marsh all missed this tour through injury, but could return for November's three-match ODI series against South Africa on home soil.

And with head coach Justin Langer drawing on the experiences of legends Ponting and Adam Gilchrist to assist the squad throughout this series, Paine is bullish with the World Cup looming on the horizon.

"We've got a number of players who weren't in this squad who have played in and won World Cups. They know what it takes," he said.

"Cricket Australia as an organisation knows what it takes and whilst I've heard a few times this team looks like it hasn't got a plan or doesn't know where it's going, we've got a clear direction, we know where we're going.

"We know we're a long way off the mark at the moment but the World Cup is not for 12 months.

"We know when we get our best team on the park, when we're playing our best cricket we're going to be right in the thick of it."

Australia has now lost 16 of their past 18 completed ODIs dating back more than a year, though Paine apportioned at least some of the blame for the 4-1 thrashing at the hands of England in the home summer to fatigue.

"There was a lot of guys who were extremely tired at the end of the Ashes," he said. "England had a massive changeover of players after the Tests and we went in with very much the same cattle and guys were pretty tired.

"We didn't play well in that series either.

"Before that, there was a series in India and they're never easy to win for anyone, particularly over there.

"But this organisation and a number of people in it have peaked at the right time, a number of times. I think we're going to build slowly to try and do that again."

Qantas tours of the UK and Zimbabwe

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey

Qantas Tour of the UK

June 7: Australia beat Sussex by 57 runs at Hove

June 9: Australia beat Middlesex by 101 runs at Lord's

June 13: England won by three wickets at The Oval

June 16: England won by 38 runs in Cardiff

June 19: England won by 242 runs at Trent Bridge

June 21: England won by six wickets in Durham

June 24: England won by one wicket at Old Trafford

June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)

Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe

July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 2: Pakistan vs Australia

July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 5: Pakistan vs Australia

July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 8: Final