After England produced a scintillating performance in the Test match format to earn a fourth successive Ashes victory on home soil, Trevor Bayliss’ men are looking to show their ability in the shorter form of the game in their five-match One Day International series with Australia. The tourists won the first encounter on Thursday, earning a comfortable 59-run victory after a superb individual performance from Matthew Wade.
The two sides are due to clash tomorrow (Saturday), but the third match of the series at Old Trafford on Tuesday is due to be the pivotal and most crucial of the fixtures. If Australia win Tuesday’s clash, they could already have the series wrapped up but, if England emerge victorious, then the One Day International series will move on to the fourth game. At the time of writing, Bayliss’ men are 8/13 to win the upcoming ODI fixture and avoid going two-nil down in the series.
Australia were clearly hurt after their incredibly weak and disappointing showing in the Test format and are looking to exert at least some revenge on England throughout the shorter version of the game. The tourists are arguably the best One Day International side on the planet and possess some of the biggest hitters in the sport.
Wade, who wasn’t selected for the Test side, hit an impressive 71 off just fifty balls to lead Australia to victory in their opening clash of the series. The Wallabies will field a much-changed side by the time the next Ashes series comes around and Wade will be one of those key players that will be knocking on the door of the starting line-up.
Meanwhile, Joe Burns and the usually reliable David Warner also racked up solid scores, reaching 44 and 59 respectively. Australia will be expecting both players to maintain this kind of form throughout the one-day series, especially after the latter struggled for confidence during the Ashes Test series.
England, on the other hand, are full of confidence after the Ashes series victory and will not expect to challenge Australia’s dominance in the shorter form of the game. While they will hope to at least win one or two matches, they tend to struggle in the one-day format – particularly in recent years but Bayliss may try to change this over the coming months ahead of next year’s Cricket World Cup.
Captain Eoin Morgan remains a potent one-day player and will need to muster all of his courage, experience and confidence to lift his troops after their opening day defeat. Jason Roy, opening batsman for Surrey, hit a decent knock of 67 but England ultimately fell short after Australia recorded over 300, a tally that England have chased down just three times in their long-standing history.
