England will look to pile more misery on Australia when the sides meet at Chester-le-Street for the fourth of five ODIs on Thursday.
With an unassailable three-nil lead on the back of a record victory in Nottingham, England will now set their sights on achieving their first ever whitewash of the Aussies in a five-ODI series.
Australia, well, face a daunting task in bouncing back from what captain Tim Paine described as ‘the hardest day in his career’ and coach Justin Langer labelled the team’s ‘worst day’ ever.
England vs Australia | Thursday, 21 June | Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street | 15:00
To Win Match
England 52/100
Tie 35/1
Australia 31/20
England
From the carnage in Nottingham to the anticipation of Chester-le-Street, England are now on a complete roll, which will take a substantial amount of stopping by the opposition. Not much went wrong for them at Trent Bridge, but ever the professionals, they will be the first to admit there is always room for improvement.
Liam Plunkett and David Willey, individually and collectively, were not as economical as they should have been – and will want to be less costly in the absence of Chris Woakes. He has been ruled out of the remainder of the series due to injury, with Sam Curran and Craig Overton both called up as cover – and likely to feature in Durham or Manchester.
Langer likened Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales to the great Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting – that’s pretty big billing for the England trio. Admittedly, however, Hales needs a few more centuries to genuinely bracket himself with Gilchrist and company. Now batting at three instead of four, one or two, he’s ideally placed to go big again on Tuesday.
Australia
Lumped with a 30-year low ranking and the damage caused by record defeat at Trent Bridge, the Australians are smarting – and not entirely sure where or who to turn to next. On paper, there are no obvious deficiencies with the XI – apart from the obvious absence of the banned Steven Smith and David Warner. The guys filling those boots – Travis Head and company – need to step up now.
Yes, the bowling ranks are a bit under-resourced, with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood out of commission for the time being. That’s no excuse, though, with Billy Stanlake, Andrew Tye and others more than capable of succeeding in the limited-overs arena. It’s the lack of experience, more than talent, that’s glaring.
England, again, will be primed to capitalise on this, at a venue that has brought them six wins in a dozen ODIs. They’ve played Australia at the Riverside Ground three times, winning the last two. A third, almost certainly, is on the cards. The only way the Aussies are going to avoid such a result is by getting their spinners into the contest more – Nathan Lyon must play.
Verdict: England 52/100
The life and times of an Australian unit minus the services Smith, Warner, Starc and others is struggling to adapt – and the same will probably prevail Durham, where a four-nil deficit beckons.
