Key occasions
England XI: Wooden and Woakes return
With the Dettol Trophy within the bag, Jos Buttler may very well be giving all of the understudies a go, however he prefers simply to modify a few his seamers – the one division wherein England have made adjustments on this sequence. Mark Wooden returns, which ought to make the sport even higher to look at, and so does Chris Woakes, which ought to add one fashionable six to England’s complete. Sam Curran, the person of the sequence thus far, drops out, together with Chris Jordan, who continues to be feeling his means again from the therapy desk. “We have to sustain the depth,” says Buttler in that deceptively light tone of his.
England 1 Jos Buttler (capt, wkt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 David Willey, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Mark Wooden, 11 Reece Topley.
Australia XI: Steve Smith is again
David Warner takes a breather after a contact of whiplash on the rope the opposite night time. His place goes to fairly a promising reserve: Steve Smith. Finch says Glenn Maxwell will transfer as much as open with him. Requested why he’s opted to bowl once more, he provides a superb crisp reply. “We’ve received to get higher at chasing.”
Australia 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Glenn Maxwell, 3 Mitch Marsh, 4 Steve Smith, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wkt), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
Toss: Australia win and bowl first
The toss hasn’t been proven on the telly, however it seems to have taken place – and been carried out by Punxsutawney Phil. Aaron Finch received it but once more and opted to bowl but once more. The person is hell-bent on finishing one other eight-run defeat.
Preamble:
Morning everybody and welcome to a collector’s merchandise. Sure, it’s a lifeless rubber, in Australia, as a result of the Poms have already wrapped up the sequence. It may simply have gone the opposite means, after two close-run issues, however … look, it didn’t.
So Jos Buttler’s new-look England are 2-0 up with one to play. After profitable the Dettol Trophy, they’re eyeing a very clear sweep. The one fear for his or her supporters is that the Australians will probably be hell-bent on revenge when the 2 sides meet once more within the World Cup, a fortnight from at the moment.
Really, that’s not the one fear. There’s the faint fretful feeling that Mark Wooden could get injured once more, that Adil Rashid may stay surprisingly out of types, that Ben Stokes could keep on contributing much less with the bat than together with his boundary acrobatics. The true sports activities lover is aware of find out how to whistle up a cloud on the sunniest day. However in the event you’re an England fan, maybe you possibly can at the very least attempt to inhale the candy odor of success.
And in the event you’re an Aussie supporter, nicely, your boys solely misplaced by eight runs every time, and within the first sport that was regardless of resting all their big-gun bowlers. The revenge mission may nicely start proper right here. The dish may not be chilly sufficient, however the air seems to be as if will probably be: the forecast for Canberra says 12-13 levels, sunny spells and showers. Is it London in disguise?
All being nicely, play begins at 7.10pm native time, which is 9.10am within the UK. I’ll be again with the toss and groups about 25 minutes earlier than that.