Rebuilding Australia meet confident England

September 3, 2015
Start time 2.00pm local (1300GMT)

England overcame the World Cup runner's up earlier this season, now they are aiming to go one better as they take on the winners in a five-match series which concludes their international season. While the Ashes will be remembered as the major success of the summer, the way England came back from 2-1 down to beat New Zealand in a rip-roaring contest was especially notable given the state of their one-day game after the World Cup.

However, as New Zealand found when their memorable, unbeaten run to the final at the MCG in March was brought to a juddering halt, Australia pose a mighty demanding challenge in the 50-over game. Their pace attack, which although missing Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood, is a stand-out feature and will again be spearheaded by Mitchell Starc alongside Pat Cummins, who was barely below 90mph during his four overs in the T20.

But England are not lacking in confidence, as demonstrated by the way they recovered from a difficult start in the T20 through the blistering stand between Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali. Previously it might have been suggested that transferring that style into the longer format would not come naturally, but evidence from the New Zealand series is that England will not add much caution to their game.

As in Test cricket, Australia are building a new era under Steven Smith but their batting at the top of the order does not lack for punch from David Warner, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell and the captain himself. The form of some others, though, may be in question. Still, if the pitches play ball and the weather stays fair there is no reason not to expect another mountain of runs.

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WWLLW
Australia WWWWW

England are very keen that one-day and Test cricket are seen as separate and equally important, but that does not mean there are not subplots across the formats. There is a chance that Alex Hales and Moeen Ali are competing to partner Alastair Cook in the Test series against Pakistan next month. With Moeen assured of his Test place, whether that includes a batting promotion or not, it is Hales who arguably has the most to gain from a successful series. He was beaten for pace by Cummins in the T20 so will be looking for an early riposte. Moeen, meanwhile, was in flowing form in Cardiff and can also expect to play a key role with the ball.

While Glenn Maxwell was batting alongside Smith in the T20 Australia were well on track to overhaul the target before Maxwell was cut off by Ben Stokes' outstanding catch. The notable feature of Maxwell's innings was its relative restraint and maturity in a format that has often brought out his most outlandish side. He had a magnificent World Cup and emerged from a tricky season for Yorkshire with a vital hundred in the County Championship against Durham. With his useful bowling and electric fielding he makes a compelling cricketer.

England need to decide whether to stick with Jason Roy as Hales' opening partner - if they do it means Moeen at No. 3 and no place for James Taylor. In the bowling attack it is probably one from Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes who will play although they are all likely to get a chance throughout the series.

England (possible) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Jason Roy, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Sam Billings, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 David Willey, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Steven Finn

The indications are that George Bailey will retain his place in the middle order despite being left out of the T20. A decision that needs to be made is whether to keep the spin bowling in the hands of Maxwell or find a space for Ashton Agar as well. Hampshire have often used three spinners in their limited-overs sides.

Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 George Bailey, 5 Shane Watson, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Mitchell Marsh, 8 Matthew Wade (wk), 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Pat Cummins

The Ageas Bowl is renowned as one of best one-day surfaces in the country. New Zealand chased down 303 earlier this season while in 2013 Australia made 298, in which Watson struck 143. And, although in domestic cricket spinners play a key role, at international level their collective economy rate of 5.32 is the highest among English grounds with a good sample size. The forecast is for a dry early-autumn day with just the outside chance of a shower.

"We're at a completely different phase in our development with our team and our squad compared to Australia so it's certainly going to be a good test."
Eoin Morgan

"We know how they're going to play. They're going to come quite hard so we're going to get opportunities if we get the ball in the right areas. We've just got to make sure we take those opportunities.''
Steven Smith