Australia vs England: Fourth ODI Preview

With the series already lost, Australia will be looking to to salvage a bit of pride when they face England in the fourth ODI at the Adelaide Oval on Friday morning. 

The Australians head into the penultimate match of a taxing five-match affair in the middle of a limited-overs rut – and wary of avoiding a possible series whitewash.

Comforted by an unassailable three-nil series lead, England will want to spoil Australia Day for all concerned in Adelaide, where patriotism will be tested by the under-performing hosts.

Australia vs England | Friday, 26 January | Adelaide Oval | 5:20

To Win Match
Australia 72/100 | Tie 35/1 | England 23/20

Australia
Overlooked for the likes of Cameron White, Glenn Maxwell has taken it upon himself to publicly advise the Australians to increase their tempo in ODI cricket – and the rejected all-rounder couldn’t be more right. Batting at four and a half to five runs an over in the middle overs just won’t suffice.

Of the regular batsmen, only Marcus Stoinis’ strike rate is more than 100. As impressive as Aaron Finch (91.66), Tim Paine (58.00) and Mitchell Marsh’s (47.00) averages for the series are, their strike rates have to improve – and soon.

It’s high time Steve Smith rekindle some of his Ashes form, too. The captain has gathered three starts in this ODI series, but failed to convert on each occasion. Adelaide is the place to change this.

Mitchell Starc has found a good groove in approaching the right-handers from around the wicket, with the angle generated by the left-armer consistently troubling the opposition top order. He needs more support from Pat Cummins and company, though.

On top of their poor current form, Australia’s record at Adelaide Oval is also indifferent – they’ve won just six of their last dozen ODIs here. England, however, lost to minnows Bangladesh at this ground the last time they played here.

England
From Jason Roy’s big century in the first ODI, the spinners’ dominance in the second and Jos Buttler’s brisk ton in the third – the English have asserted their limited-overs dominance throughout. The fourth match shouldn’t be any different.

They will probably be without Liam Plunkett, who sustained an injury in the series decider. This opens the door for David Willey, who can emulate fellow left-armer Starc – and offer more with the bat than, say, Tom Curran or Jake Ball.

Moeen Ali isn’t really in danger of being dropped, but needs to buy a run from somewhere. He hasn’t reached more than 40 this entire tour – that’s five Tests and three ODIs – and his role with the ball is less of a need with Adil Rashid around.

To reiterate, England’s last ODI visit to the Adelaide Oval resulted in defeat to Bangladesh during the World Cup. Chris Woakes’ death bowling was significantly exposed then, but has enjoyed proper improvement since – and he’ll appreciate the chance to bury the bad memories.

Achieving a resounding four-nil series lead will put England just one win away from a historical whitewash. While this won’t undo the hurt suffered during the Test series, it’ll certainly set a great precedent ahead of next month’s T20I tri-series with the Aussies and New Zealanders.

Verdict: England 23/20
Even without Plunkett, England’s bowlers should be on point in Adelaide, where their batsmen can also take advantage of a relatively true pitch against a rather muddled opposition attack.