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England meekly surrendered Ashes 4-0, and though that result wasn’t so shocking considering Ben Stokes’s absence, the fight and fearlessness demonstrated by the visitors in last two years was missing from this series.
Perhaps the change of guard and some new legs coming in could change the energy level of the team. Sam Billings, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Jos Butler aren’t ones to hold back from a challenge.
Joe Root could still be feeling the damage from the Ashes loss, and so too must Moeen Ali and Johny Bairstow, but this infusion of aggressive energy could be the tonic England need to get their act together.
Winning at least some matches could restore some positivity in the English camp in 2018. Since their 2015 World Cup exit England has looked unbeatable in coloured clothes, beating New Zealand, the West Indies, Pakistan and Australia.
While they put up a tough fight against South Africa and India at home, it’s pretty clear Trevor Bayliss and Andrew Strauss have been placng a lot of emphasis on the shorter format by having a different team for Tests and the ODIs.
It’s chance for a new player to replace Stokes in the line-up, which further strengthens the bench strength for Poms. Mark Wood coming back from injury will look to make an impact straight away, like he did when England faced South Africa and he picked up big wickets and bowled well at the death.
(Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Australia’s ODI performance in last year or so has been mixed, winning almost everything at home but losing to New Zealand, India and South Africa in away series. A strong England outfit gives them the chance to test bench strength in the bowling department, including Jhye Richardson and Andrew Tye.
As good as Steven Smith has been in the Tests, he has a lot to prove in the shorter format after a poor performance in the Champions Trophy 2017. After all, Australia will be the defending champions in next year’s World Cup, and to defend that crown they’ll need to build a team that could pull off the feat a second time.
Hence each and every match does matter, and with no James Faulkner or George Bailey to finish games, the greater experience new players get and the better it is for Australia.
Taking a look at Australia and England’s records against each other in last ten years, prior to Australia’s loss in the 2005 Ashes away from home they managed to win the Tri-Series against England and Bangladesh.
In 2009 Australia again floundered away from home in the Test matches, losing the series 2-1. However, they took some heart from dominating the 50-over series, winning six of the seven matches.
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Back home in the summer of 2010-11 a shattering Ashes defeat that included three defeats by an innings still did not prevent the ODI series being won 6-1.
Over the course of back-to-back Ashes series in 2013-14 the Aussies won the series in England 2-1 and in Australia by a margin of 4-1.
Even after the 2015 Ashes series England lost the series 3-2, but that was quite close. England clearly has a poor Test record against Australia, and this ODI series gives them chance to start a new trend.
Of course the crowd would love to see their team win each time Australia and England lock horns. With David Warner, Steven Smith, Eoin Morgan and Jos Butler expect plenty of aggressive cricket.
And given England’s performance in last two years in coloured clothes and Australia’s performance at home, the series could turn out to be much more exciting than the Ashes.
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