Eoin Morgan praised England's resilience after they quickly moved on from their defeat to Scotland to take a 1-0 lead in the one-day international series with Australia.
England slumped to an embarrassing loss in Edinburgh on Sunday, Scotland winning by six runs in a thrilling encounter.
Morgan's side were given the perfect opportunity on Wednesday to make up for those shortcomings north of the border, and they duly delivered a three-wicket victory at the Oval.
Australia's batsmen struggled against a disciplined bowling display, led superbly by Moeen Ali, before Morgan and Joe Root starred with the bat.
Ultimately it was left to David Willey to score the winning runs, but Morgan was happy with the way his side reacted to the Scotland loss.
"I'm very pleased with the win, particularly with the bowling," the England skipper said at the post-match presentation.
"I thought they were outstanding today and the spinners turned the momentum in our favour, they did a great job as they have done for a few years.
"We were good in parts and to win the game when you're not as good as you can be is a great thing.
"The Scotland game made us hone our skills a little bit. You never like losing but we did take the lesson from it."
Speaking in his post-match media conference, Morgan - who top scored with 69 - added: "The most important thing is that we did get the win.
"Before the Scotland game I mentioned how going into the World Cup and trying to replicate tournament cricket is getting wins when you don't necessarily play well or wake up and don't have a great day.
"But finding a way to get over the line was important. We did a really good job of it. Our bowlers stood up.
"With the bat we were below par but managed to get over the line. It's a big positive to take, because that's a characteristic we're going to need."
