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Australia’s ODI squad for this tour of Britain is missing six of the 11 cricketers who played in their previous match – a World Cup final thrashing of New Zealand.
ENGLAND VS AUSTRALIA THIRD ODI SCORECARD
Trying, in the space of one game, to replace your captain, wicketkeeper, opening batsman, the world’s best all-rounder and two of your three specialist quicks should, logically, cripple any international team.
Yet Australia have cruised to comfortable victories over a new-look England side which had generated a tsunami of premature hype.
While England may yet rebound and have a heavy impact on this series, as they did against New Zealand, so far they have not looked in the same class as the undermanned Australians, who now have won 11 of their past 12 ODIs against England.
When it really mattered, in this year’s World Cup, England were horrendous. Some of their fans would have you believe that’s because England don’t really care about ODI cricket – a convenient stance which quickly is disproven by the hysteria whenever they produce a run of success.
England’s bumbling efforts in the world’s premier cricket tournament came despite the ECB having made robust efforts to ensure their players were well prepared.
The ECB tailored the team’s schedule to ensure the players gorged on a buffet of 50-over cricket in the lead-up to the World Cup.
The signs were bad when they lost all three ODIs against Australia in the weeks before the tournament. Then the hosts demolished them in front of a huge crowd at the MCG in their World Cup opener.
England followed that with massive losses to New Zealand and Sri Lanka before the humiliation of being beaten by Bangladesh.
Their senior players, most notably pacemen James Anderson and Stuart Broad, were woeful and the team slunk home in shame.
All it took was one tight series victory at home against an understrength New Zealand line-up to quickly erase those memories and crank up the hype machine.
Granted, it was hard to know how their series against Australia would play out such were the drastic changes to the personnel of both sides.
But, after two matches, things look a lot clearer. England do not have anywhere near the depth of talent Australia possess in 50-over cricket.
It is this depth which has seen the Australians dominate the format for almost 20 years, incredibly winning four of the last five World Cups.
Most stark has been the difference in bowling talent possessed by the two teams. Australia are without three of their main four bowlers in Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood and James Faulkner.
All of that trio would walk into the England team. Yet Australia have covered their absences with ease.
Emerging pacemen Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile again have looked comfortable at international level, combining for nine wickets at an average of 21.
To counter the loss of the best all-rounder in ODI cricket, James Faulkner, Australia’s other all-rounders have stepped up with the ball.
Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson and Mitchell Marsh have chipped in with seven wickets at an average of 28, making some crucial breakthroughs.
Maxwell’s unorthodox batting ensures he received a disproportionate level of criticism. His off spin is underappreciated by most and quietly has developed to the point that he could justify his spot as a bowling all-rounder.
In his past 26 ODIs, Maxwell has snared 28 wickets at the impressive average of 26. He is the player that England are hoping Moeen Ali will become – a devastating strokemaker who can also shape games with his spin.
On the batting front, the one new face has been opener Joe Burns. He has been offered the opportunity on this ODI tour to push his case to replace the retired Chris Rogers at the top of the order in the Test team.
Burns has looked assured and fluent in his three games since debuting for Australia, stroking 135 runs at an average of 45 at the good strike rate of 91.
While the returns from injury of first-choice openers Aaron Finch and David Warner will squeeze Burns out of the side, it bodes well for the Australians that they have the likes of him and fellow Queenslander Usman Khawaja waiting in the wings.
It is this kind of depth which has driven Australia’s phenomenal success in ODIs since the mid-1990s. The signs are strong that they will remain at the top of the tree for years to come.