Australia’s Shaun Marsh and England’s Matt Prior will be two of the star attractions in Friday’s second one-day international in Hobart.
Shane Watson hit a brilliant unbeaten 161 to guide Australia to victory in last week’s first game of what’s expected to be a keenly contested seven-match series.
While both sides will train at Bellerive Oval nets on Thursday with their focus on game two, they’ll also be keen to fine-tune tactics ahead of the World Cup starting on the sub-continent on February 19.
England made the shock move to recall wicketkeeper Prior to their World Cup squad of 15 on Wednesday, relegating Steven Davies to reserve gloveman and pulling Prior out of his commitments with Victoria’s Twenty20 side.
Australia, meanwhile, have called up Marsh from Western Australia’s T20 side following veteran batsman Mike Hussey’s hamstring surgery which leaves the 35-year-old in doubt for the World Cup.
Cricket Australia’s decision to pick only one specialist slow bowler, Nathan Hauritz, for the World Cup will put pressure on the NSW off-spinner to perform in Friday’s game two.
Pace bowler Shaun Tait, who has recovered from a back complaint that kept him out of Sunday’s clash, says he’s confident Australia’s quicks can get the job done on the sub-continent and on home turf against England.
“You never know in India. Some of the wickets they produce sometimes go through pretty quickly,” Tait says.
“Fast bowling’s not that bad over there.
“We’ve got four pretty good fast bowlers and a good spin bowler.
“We’ve got other batters who can bowl spin (David Hussey and Steve Smith).
“So I think the balance of the squad is pretty good.”
England’s immediate concern for Friday’s game is to manage the tension over Prior’s selection, with coach Andy Flower admitting Davies was very disappointed with his World Cup omission.
“Of course he is disappointed. Any player would be very disappointed to be left out of the England side,” Flower said.
“It means a lot. Steve and the others who have been left out will have to accept it.”
Flower said Prior was better suited to the sub-continent, and his World Cup selection made it vital that he rejoin the squad for the series against Australia.
“We always knew that the timing of the World Cup announcement was going to be tricky. It’s not ideal one game into a seven-match series,” he said.
“But as we get closer to the World Cup we’ve made that adjustment and we want Prior to get a few games under his belt before we get out there so he’s going to be arriving in Hobart tonight.
“The circumstances have changed. Matt Prior did very well out here in the Test matches.
“He is a combative, aggressive cricketer. He fits our aggressive fielding unit so those are the reasons why he has been picked for the World Cup.”
Australia squad for Friday’s game: Michael Clarke (capt), Doug Bollinger, Brad Haddin, John Hastings, Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Steve Smith, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson, Cameron White.
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