The second ODI between England and Australia takes place on Saturday with the two sides heading to Leeds to continue their preparation for the Champions Trophy at Headingley on what should be another excellent day of cricket.
Australia drew first blood in the series in Nottingham on Thursday and they have the chance to go two up with three to play here. England will want to level the series and head to Durham very much in the hunt for the series win.
Where to watch
The match will be shown on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket channels with the build-up to the contest beginning at 10.30am ahead of the 11am start.
England
England were well beaten in the opening match of the series. They were architects of their own downfall with what was a performance while followed a familiar recent theme. After choosing to bat, which was a rarity to be fair, they were in a wonderful position but then a lack of application and braincells when the bat was in their hand meant that they fell 60-70 runs short of where they should have got to and in the end the total they had to settle for was barely a par one.
They always looked a gun bowler light in that opening match so falling short of where they should have got to with the bat was always going to be a problem and in the end they were given a bit of a drubbing. They will need to bowl better to get back into the series but that was always going to be the case. They will also need to maximise their batting potential more than they did and ensure they pace the 50 overs much better than they did at Trent Bridge.
Australia
You have to give plenty of credit to Australia in that opening match. It was getting away from them with the ball but they showed the qualities of a team who are used to winning in the format because they hung in there, set the traps for England to allow them back into the contest and then took full advantage when the opposition fell into them. In the end they ran out very easy winners and there is more to come from them as well.
They were without a couple of key bowlers who were said to be out with illness and an all-rounder that will undoubtedly strengthen the side so that should give Australia plenty of confidence, although it is well known that this isn’t their favourite venue in the UK which could make life interesting. Australia will be very confident with how they chased down that total at Trent Bridge and with bowlers to return they are in good shape.
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Team News
England are very careful with the game time that Jofra Archer gets and he might sit this one out. Saqib Mahmood, Reece Topley and John Turner are in line to come in. Jordan Cox might need to wait for his chance to shine.
It was unknown as to the reasons why Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood missed out in the opening game although there were hints that there was an illness in the camp. It remains to be seen if they have recovered for this one.
Betting
When you consider that England hit eight sixes at Trent Bridge and at least four of them got out caught on the boundary trying to clear the ropes and it was plainly obvious by the reaction of Harry Brook in the media that nothing is going to change in terms of their approach so I see no reason to oppose the England sixes line for this match which is 6.5. The weather is set fair throughout the day so the bowlers are going to have to work hard for anything here.
Headingley is probably the best white ball batting wicket in the country at the minute and we know since the new pavilion went up that the straight boundary in that direction in particular is very short and they aren’t overly long to the sides either. There should be more than enough pace and bounce in the pitch and we saw in The Hundred how the ball can fly here. England are happy to fight fire with fire and the over 6.5 sixes looks the way to tackle this match.
Tips
Back England – Over 6.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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