England v Australia 2nd ODI preview: England look to bounce back against World Champions

England v Australia 2nd ODI preview: England look to bounce back against World Champions: England and Australia will face off in the second game of the 5 match ODI series in Lords on Saturday. Australia comprehensively won the first match by 59 runs as England came no where close to matching up to Australia’s clinical show. The match saw England throw away momentum after gaining advantage during the early and middle part of both the innings.

Australia:

The Aussies came back extremely strong from the defeat in the lone T20 international and despite loosing their way in the middle gave ample proof of their batting depth and scored an above par total on the board. Australia skipper Steven Smith will be a happy man after seeing the report card of the first match. The opening combination of Joe Burns and Warner was a successful one once again, adding 76 runs for the opening wicket. But the architect of the victory was Matthew Wade (71 not out off 50 balls), helping Australia recover from a middle-order collapse to post a healthy 305 for 6. The other positive from the encounter was the performances of the bowlers. Relying on five medium-pacers and Glenn Maxwell’s offspin, Australia was able to bowl England out for 246. Pat Cummins was particularly impressive while Coulter-Nile, Starc and Watson also looked potent.

England:

England’s batting order certainly felt the pinch of Joe Root’s absence in Southampton. Alex Hales, Jason Roy and James Taylor all got starts but failed to make any substantial contribution. For England only 3 players reached the 30+ score as their middle order collapsed spectacularly to Australia’s pace attack

The team management will also want to address the bowling, which despite having Australia on the mat at 193 for six, allowed them to score in excess of 300. They could consider bringing in left-arm medium pacer David Willey to give the bowling attack some variety. However, the performance of leggie Adil Rashid, 4 for 59, should hold England in good stead. Roy and Hales seemed comfortable facing the new ball and James Taylor is a steadying presence at No 3. The trio of Morgan, Buttler and Stokes will be expected to come good this time.Mark Wood turned out to be an expensive option, getting clobbered by Wade and Mitchell Marsh in the last 10 overs to finish with figures of 10-0-72-1.

England have been guilty of letting their energy drop after impressive Test performances for some time now and the hosts will be eager to change that trend. Although the first match went Australia’s way by a comfortable margin, England will be expected to bounce back, and what better place to do it than at the Home of Cricket.

Stats to Ponder

1. Australia have won 10 of their last 11 ODIs against England.

2. England last played an ODI at Lord’s in May 2014 when a Jos Buttler scored a superb 121 in a losing cause against Sri Lanka.

3. England are sixth in the current ICC ODI rankings, only one point ahead of Bangladesh.

4. Matthew Wade needs 18 runs to become the fifth Australian wicketkeeper to reach 1000 in ODIs.

Probable XI:

England – Alex Hales, Jason Roy, James Taylor, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Steven Finn

Australia – David Warner, Joe Burns, Steven Smith (capt), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins