Opener Alastair Cook admits England’s woeful batting performance in Perth has dented their confidence ahead of the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG.

England made 1,137 for the loss of six wickets across their second innings in the Brisbane opener and their first in the second Test in Adelaide – but they go to Melbourne having been skittled for 187 and 123 at the WACA.

The recalled Mitchell Johnson returned match figures of 9-82 and Ryan Harris took 9-106 to bowl Australia to a 267-run win – but Cook insisted while England’s batsmen are down, they are certainly not out with the series level at 1-1 with two Tests to play.

“As a batting unit, we took a little bit of a confidence hit in this game,” admitted Cook.

“But we only have to look a week or so before, we scored a lot of runs against this attack, so we have to remain in that confidence.

“We’ve got to trust ourselves first and foremost and our training methods over the next couple of days are important to that.”

Cook said there had been a few home truths shared at a post-match meeting at the team hotel in the hours after England’s loss.

“We had a good meeting after the game, and we discussed a few things,” Cook said.

“We put Perth to bed and now we go to Melbourne as a confident side.”