I Believe We Can Beat England, Says Ashton Agar

With Australia on the verge of suffering a humiliating 5-0 whitewash at the hands of bitter rivals England, promising spinner Ashton Agar said only the team’s ‘absolute best’ will be good enough to beat the current world number one ODI side.

England have thoroughly dominated the Kangaroos during the ongoing series so far to go 4-0 up. Whether they have batted first or bowled first, Australia proved no match for them.

The margin of defeats only inflicted pain with every passing game. In the first game, England chased down a modest 215 with six overs to spare. Well, in the following game, England scored 342 before restricting Australia to 304.

In the third ODI, the hosts piled up 481 for six – the highest ever-ODI total. In reply, Australia were bundled out for just 239.

In the penultimate game of the series, the reigning world champions managed to put up a good batting show. Riding on Aaron Finch’s ton, they posted 310.

However, England chased down the total with 32 balls remaining. As a result, the Australian team is now on the verge of suffering their first-ever whitewash at the hands of England in a five-match series.

“It’s going to be tough, but I absolutely believe we can beat them: we have no choice (but) to believe that we can beat them,” Agar told reporters quoted as saying by Cricket Australia.

“But we need to play our very best cricket against a side that’s played really well four games in a row. We have to bring our absolute best,” he added.

Agar further admitted that England have outplayed Australia.

“We have been outplayed, that’s the truth. All we can do now is focus on us and look to improve in every area possible — batting, bowling, fielding, cricket smarts,” he stated.

Australia arrived in England without banned star batsmen Steven Smith and David Warner.

Both the players are serving the one-year ban slapped on them for the ball-tampering scandal which surfaced at Cape Town, earlier this year.

Australia also had to travel to England with a depleted bowling lineup as Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were marred by injury.

Ashton Agar, meanwhile, further said that England’s confidence has impressed him.

“Their confidence, their self-belief: they ooze it out there, no doubt,” he maintained.

“They are playing like a team where everyone knows their role and they back themselves and each other to just go and do it. They have set the benchmark, no doubt,” he said.