England vs Australia, 3rd ODI - England On Course to Seal the Series as Australia looks to Bounce Back

The visitors Australia will look to bounce back as England looks on course to seal the series when both sides square off against each other in the 3rd ODI of the five-match series at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on June 19 (Saturday).

Meanwhile, England’s batting has been great but bowling less so, but still good. The form of Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler has kept host ahead of the tourist. However, Alex Hales may be under the radar after a string of poor performances from the start of the year. With Ben Stokes waiting in the wings, he needs a score to cement his spot.

On the other hand, Aussie skipper Tim Paine needs to justify his selection despite being in charge, with Alex Carey waiting in the wings. The team still looks to be in shackles after the recent debacle in South Africa. Although they put in an improved in the second games, they need to put in a collective effort.

England captain Eoin Morgan should return after he missed the Cardiff ODI with a back spasm. That’ll mean a place back on the bench for Sam Billings, who failed to make his start count. Bairstow may be doubtful for the game with a knee problem that remained strapped on Monday.

Billy Stanlake will lead the attack once more, recovering from a lacerated big toe, while Tim Paine will play after he was given the all clear after being hit in the face by a bouncing slower ball in Cardiff on Saturday. Also, Australia is likely to stay with the experiment of shifting Aaron Finch to the middle order. Australia will persist with that policy to allow D’Arcy Short to take another stab at the top of the order alongside Travis Head.

Squads:

England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Jake Ball

Australia:  Travis Head, D Arcy Short, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Tim Paine(w/c), Andrew Tye, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Michael Neser, Billy Stanlake, Alex Carey, Nathan Lyon

Form guide

England WWLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia LLLWL

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is likely to be another Trent Bridge belter while the weather – while not set to be blazing – looks set to be dry.

Meanwhile, lots of runs seem likelier than not. The layout of the ground and the location of the pitch suggests we might be in for similar fireworks on Tuesday.

• After missing the Cardiff match, Morgan still needs 41 runs to overtake Ian Bell as England’s leading run-scorer in ODIs.
• Australia have won just twice in 15 ODIs since the Champions Trophy in 2017 – a win-loss ratio that is the worst for any ODI team in the past 12 months.
• They’ve got a way to go yet before they can start targeting whitewashes, but given the current state of the two teams, England will rarely have a better chance to beat Australia 5-0 in an ODI series – their best result was 4-0, with one wash-out, in 2012.

Also read: Five times a no-ball cost India a match