Editor's Pick (ODI): England - Australia

The fifth and final ODI between Australia and England takes place tomorrow. England’s tour of Australia has been quite successful. They have won the 5-match ODI series, having walked away with the first three matches. Australia came back to the series winning the fourth by three wickets. Not a fabulous win but it was something, I guess.

England did crash and burn in the beginning. Australia won on Australia Day. A consolation win, after having lost home series. That has to hurt. It was an ordinary display of batting. Head managed to salvage whatever little pride left. Head is in to replace an injured Finch, proved that he was the right choice indeed. The rest of the batsmen were just there. They reached the target of 197. Earlier in the day, England’s batting was also fairly abysmal with Chris Woakes hitting 78. It was a day for the bowlers, with Pat Cummins taking four wickets. Josh Hazlewood and Andrew Tye took three each. Adil Rashid of England also had a three wicket haul.

This match takes place at Perth. End of an era with the old stadium, really excited to get in front of 60000 people. New pitch, the conditions are still fairly unknown. It could be a flat batting pitch, more on the slower side.

England Squad: Eoin Morgan(c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Australia Squad :  Steven Smith(c), Travis Head, Josh Hazlewood, Aaron Finch, Pat Cummins, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Cameron White

Travis Head has proven to play with a clear and steady head. The wicket takers - Pat,Josh, Andrew and Rashid are definitely in. Chris Woakes too.  

My team

J Buttler

S Smith

J Root

C Woakes

M Marsh

A Rashid

P Cummins

Travis Head

M Wood

A Zampa / Josh Hazlewood

D Warner

  

Chris Woakes is our App top scorer. He has done really well. Not just in the previous match but overall. With a new stadium the excitement is high. Captain Steve Smith has confirmed that Glenn Maxwell will be seriously considered. But having finally won a match, I doubt if they will want to change the team for the fifth and final ODI. Yes they have lost the series but they would want to walk out with a win. With a tri-series coming up, the team will want their morales raised. Australia won thanks to their brilliant bowling. The batting needs to be seriously worked on. England has shown that they are bound to perform one way or the other. The return of Josh Hazlewood and the performance of Pat Cummins has made a difference.

Indu 

P.S. Please note that the above-expressed opinions are purely the Editor’s. We do not take responsibility, nor can we guarantee the performance of the players. All the best !!!