England v Australia
\nOnline
\nMANCHESTER
\nEngland and Australia will renew hostilities in a three-match one-day series starting on Friday, with the tourists seeking to avenge their painful defeat in last year\u2019s World Cup semi-final.
\nEoin Morgan\u2019s England go into the matches on a high after a 2-1 Twenty20 series victory over Australia but Josh Hazlewood believes the visitors can carry \u201cmomentum\u201d into the one-dayers following a five-wicket T20 win in Southampton on Tuesday.
\nJos Buttler impressed as an opener England during the T20s but has generally been deployed as a middle-order batsman in the 50-over format.
\nHowever, with star all-rounder Ben Stokes missing for family reasons, England may feel they want to give Buttler the opportunity to face as many balls as possible — a role that would contrast with his usual \u201cfinishing\u201d role.
\nIf he is moved, Australia will need to find a way to restrict the talented shotmaker.
\nAfter Buttler made an unbeaten 77 in the second T20, Australia leg-spin great Shane Warne said reining in the batsman was easier said than done.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the perception of what he could do that upsets the bowlers,\u201d Warne told Sky Sports.
\n\u201cIf you\u2019re a bowler standing at the top of the mark you\u2019re thinking, \u2018What is he going to do?\u2019.
\n\u201cThe key to his batting is the way he hits the ball — he hits it all around the ground. There\u2019s no particular weakness to his batting and when you don\u2019t have a weakness it\u2019s hard to come up with a plan to bowl to him.\u201d
\nOne-day international cricket is often said to be batsman\u2019s game. England, with Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root in their ranks and Australia, with David Warner, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith, both boast powerful top-orders.
\nBut they also have top-quality fast bowlers, with vice-captain Pat Cummins and left-armer Mitchell Starc set to lead Australia\u2019s attack.
\nEngland can call upon express quicks Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who showed glimpses of their speed during the Twenty20 series, while Chris Woakes will be looking to repeat his performance in last year\u2019s semi-final, when he took 3-37.
\nEngland leg-spinner Adil Rashid underlined his status as one of the best white-ball bowlers in the game with 3-21 in the third T20, producing a brilliant googly that clean bowled opening batsman Finch, while he also snared all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and star batsman Smith.
\nThe Yorkshireman\u2019s ability to take wickets in the middle overs of the innings has been a key part of England\u2019s white-ball revival under Morgan and was in evidence when he took 3-54 during last year\u2019s semi-final.
\nAustralia also have slow bowling resources of their own, with leg-break bowler Adam Zampa and left-armer Ashton Agar looking to make their mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
England v Australia Online MANCHESTER England and Australia will renew hostilities in a three-match one-day series starting on Friday, with the tourists seeking to avenge their painful defeat in last year\u2019s World Cup semi-final. Eoin Morgan\u2019s England go into the matches on a high after a 2-1 Twenty20 series victory over Australia but Josh Hazlewood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n