Alastair Cook’s England one-day international team hit a new low yesterday as a nine-wicket hammering at the hands of India completed the captain’s fifth successive series defeat.

Embarrassment hung in the air for the hosts at Edgbaston where a near-capacity crowd, evidently dominated by opposition supporters, raucously lapped up the occasion.

Ajinkya Rahane (106) hit his maiden ODI century in an opening stand of 183 with Shikhar Dhawan (97no) as India surged past an inadequate 206 all out with 19.3 overs to spare to wrap up the series 3-0.

At the ground where India also beat the hosts in a tense Champions Trophy final last summer, England were woefully uncompetitive this time — and only a late slip from Rahane, caught at cover by Cook off Harry Gurney, saved them from their first 10-wicket defeat on home soil.

For their critics, this performance will be the most damning indictment yet of England’s chances with current personnel at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand early next year.

Cook admitted he was frustrated after the game and said: “It’s been a very tough day. In the Test match series we turned it round and then on a high we’ve played some bad cricket — I don’t quite know why that is but we have to try to find the reason for that.

“The most frustrating thing is when you don’t play anywhere near your potential and that’s what we’ve done and there are no excuses for that.”

After the tourists won the toss and chose to bowl first, Cook believes that the decision would not have made a difference and said India were the better team on the day.

He added: “We were going to bat first anyway, it probably got a little bit better but we’re not going to use that. India have outskilled us.

“They bowled better than us, they fielded better than us and they certainly batted better than us so unfortunately it’s a hard place to be at the moment, but we just need to stay true to ourselves and really back our beliefs and work incredibly hard.

“That’s the only way through it. That’s what we did in the Test match, people put their hands up and turned it around and that’s the bottom line.”

Looking ahead to the fifth ODI on Friday Cook said: “It’s always tough when you lose three very quickly — especially in the manner we’ve lost — but you have to look forward to the next six months of one-day cricket and what’s exciting is there is a World Cup at the end of it.”