After a T20 series which was annoyingly cut short by the weather when it was delicately poised, Australia conclude their tour of England with five ODI matches which get underway at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
Unlike the T20 matches, there is some context to this series as it offers up the chance for both teams to start their preparations for the Champions Trophy which is beginning to loom large on the horizon. That should ensure some competitive action.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket channels with the build-up to the game beginning at 12pm ahead of the first ball at 12.30pm.
England
This will be the first ODI series that England have played in 2024 and with the Champions Trophy now five months away you would imagine that they are going to take things seriously and look to build up a head of steam to go into that tournament with given that they have fluffed their lines in the last two global events. This will also be the first white ball series over the 50 over formats that England will have played since the sacking of Matthew Mott.
If England are going to go to the Champions Trophy and win it then they are going to have to bowl well and show that they can take wickets throughout the innings but also keep things tighter at the end of an innings than they have been doing recently. The other thing England need to solve in the next five months is a style of playing and an approach which allows them to win matches whether they are posting a score or chasing rather than their default over the last few years which has been to chase regardless because they don’t trust their bowling attack.
Australia
Unlike England, Australia have a decent base to build from for the Champions Trophy which is upcoming. They are the 50 over world champions and have a team who can win matches regardless of whether they are batting or bowling. They can win in seaming conditions, good batting offerings and on tracks which turn and that makes them a complete side, one which will go to Pakistan in February as leading challengers for the tournament.
The key thing for Australia is they have a couple of all-rounders in their side that can win matches with bat and with ball. That effectively lengthens their batting much further down the innings than some but it also offers up a number of bowling options which can be utilised depending on the conditions that are in front of them. You would say that Australia are getting to a period of transition but right now they are the team to beat in this format of the game.
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Team News
England will be under new captaincy for this series with Jos Buttler ruled out of it because of injury. Harry Brook will skipper the side and he has confirmed that Jofra Archer will play this opening match. Ben Duckett will open the batting with Jacob Bethell making his ODI debut.
Australia haven’t confirmed their XI for this match but we do know that Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have all arrived since the T20 matches and are expected to come into the side.
Betting
I finished the T20 series by taking the performance line of Liam Livingstone and I find myself opening up the ODI series by taking the same bet. He isn’t going to play much less of a role for England in ODI cricket than he did in the 20 over format. He is looking like he will bat at six but the England top order doesn’t exactly look full of runs so I would be amazed if Livingstone isn’t at the crease with a good amount of time to get himself in before he starts swinging for the fences. If that is the case Trent Bridge definitely isn’t big enough for him.
Although England have the likes of Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell, there is no Moeen Ali so I would imagine Livingstone will get to bowl close to a full 10 overs unless he gets carted at any point, although there was no sign of that during the T20 series. He also fields in key positions so catches can’t be ruled out either and when you put it all together I’m a little surprised that he has a performance line of just 39.5. One wicket and 20 runs gets us home here as do two wickets or a solid innings. I think there is a lot of upside on the over.
Tips
Back L.Livingstone’s Performance – Over 39.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
