Australia vs England: Third One Day International - ODI live scores, blog

A thoroughly battered England will need a turnaround of gargantuan proportions if they have to save the ODI series in the third match against Australia in Sydney on Sunday. Follow the action live from 2.20 pm AEDT.

There is no other way of saying this, but England should have won the second ODI.

That Australia did go on to go 2-0 up in the series was as much to do with what’s now become a case of strong self-belief, as it was to do some inexplicable bowling from the English speedsters when the slog was on.

When Australia lost their ninth wicket in that Gabba ODI, they were still a good 57 runs away from a win and to make their task doubly difficult was the fact they had only six overs remaining.

Now James Faulkner may go on to become of the better all-rounders in all formats of the game, but at this stage, especially going into the previous game, he was a medium-pacer who could bat.

Twice in India in their previous series, Faulkner had shown what he is capable of with the willow in his hand, but those were bone-dry roads in disguise of pitches that we are talking about.

At the Gabba, it wasn’t plain slogging from Faulkner, who kept playing a lot of dots before exploding at the most opportune of times to take the match away from England’s grasp. And boy, wasn’t it England’s to lose.

Such was the nature of that defeat that it would be a wonder if England find the break of just one day between the two games enough time to recover from that sapping loss.

Unfortunately for England, it is not as if they do not know what their problems are. That can hardly be the case because most of those issues have been persistent throughout the tour.

Alastair Cook has failed to get going.

Joe Root’s has stumbled and stuttered at three and not gotten scoring.

The batting aggression hasn’t remained consistently over a period of the innings.

And the quick bowlers have lacked penetration at crucial times.

Rather strangely, it’s been a couple of ODIs and England are yet to play any of their frontline spinners either, making it even tougher for them to contain the runs during the middle overs.

Australia, on the other hand, will look to address a couple of their own issues going into a game that could potentially decide the series.

There was a general feeling about their batting that it frittered away starts by erring on the side of over-aggression, instead of trying to see off the game.

Then again, the pair of Nathan Coulter-Nile and Clint McKay did not have a great evening trying to control the runs and much like their opponents, felt the absence of a frontline spinner.

Going into the third game, there could be changes to both sides, with a lot dependent on how the track is expected to behave. If it’s anywhere near how the one at the Gabba did, then Tredwell and Xavier Doherty could come into the line-up.

Root’s position in the English line-up could also be under a bit of a threat but his bowling in the previous game could have been a saviour. Whether he’s allowed to bat at the number three spot for this one is a big question-mark.

Stuart Broad could also join the playing XI after being rested for the first two games and one of Tim Bresnan or Boyd Rankin might sit out.

Join me for the third ODI of the five-match series on Sunday and you can follow the live score of this game from 2.20 pm AEDT and post your comments below.