Feature

England bring in the big guns

The tour now moves into white-ball mode with considerable changes to both teams. England have their heavy-hitters and fast bowlers to hand, while Australia have made some interesting selection decisions

Andrew McGlashan
Andrew McGlashan
13-Jan-2018
What Ashes? The tour now moves into white-ball mode with considerable changes to both teams. England have their heavy-hitters and fast bowlers to hand, while Australia have made some interesting selection decisions. Here are five things we might be talking about over the five ODIs
Embarrassment of riches?
That may be stretching it a bit far, but England do have a choice to make at the top of the order. Due to his involvement in the incident in Bristol in late September, for which he has now been cleared by police, Alex Hales missed the final two ODIs against West Indies. That gave a chance to the previously sidelined Jason Roy, who closed out the series with scores of 84 and 96 alongside the prolific Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow had been the man to replace Roy for the semi-final of the Champions Trophy: in six innings he has scored 345 runs including two centuries so isn't going anywhere. It's therefore between Hales and Roy. Trevor Bayliss has hinted Hales may have to wait for his return, but he did hit 52 off 35 balls in the warm-up match.
Rest and rotation
There's a chance England will not see the trio of Australian quicks who hassled them during the Ashes together during the one-day series. Josh Hazlewood will miss the first ODI in Melbourne and Pat Cummins the second in Brisbane, with Mitchell Starc also expected to be given a break at some stage. That means England could see plenty of Andrew Tye and Jhye Richardson, neither of whom have yet to play an ODI. In fact, between them they have played just 34 List A matches - Tye 24 and Richardson eight. There was some chat about the depth of Australia's pace-bowling resources during the Test series (Jackson Bird's outing on the awful MCG surface was the only time it was put into action) and this series may give some indication how it stands with the white ball.
England's balance
Of course, England are still missing Ben Stokes. So again there is the challenge of replacing two players. At the end of the home season, they went with the extra batting option in Sam Billings while retaining the two frontline spinners in Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. In the warm-up match against the Cricket Australia XI, they didn't have to make the decision as it was a 12-a-side affair, although the two spinners bowled 20 overs between them and Tom Curran just three which probably gave a strong clue. Joe Root, provided he is fully recovered from the gastro bug, does provide the safety valve of a sixth-bowler if Eoin Morgan and Bayliss opt for the batting route again.
Can Mo escape the woe
Talking of allrounders, England will be hoping that the one-day series can help Moeen escape the funk the surrounded him for much of the Ashes. There were some promising signs with the ball in the warm-up as he wheeled away for 2 for 28 from his 10 overs, but he fell for just 1 during the chase. Moeen was superb with the bat at the back-end of the West Indies series with a rollicking 57-ball 102 in Bristol then a well-paced unbeaten 48 to beat the D/L calculations at The Oval. How England would like to see that Moeen return. Some good news for him is that Nathan Lyon, who dismissed him seven times in nine innings during the Tests, isn't part of Australia's one-day squad.
Another bolter comes good?
Australia's selectors could feel pretty pleased with themselves after the Ashes. Cameron Bancroft may not have set the world alight, but the recalls of the Marsh brothers and Tim Paine were outstanding successes. Will they be able add another decision to their list? The absence of Glenn Maxwell from the one-day squad provoked much debate, then the man preferred to him, Chris Lynn, pulled out injured and his replacement created almost as much debate again: a recall for the 34-year-old Cameron White. With the next World Cup just 18 months away, will the selectors come to the rue not blooding one of the younger talents in the game?

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo