Australia cruised to a comfortable win in Game 1 of this quickfire ODI series, taking full toll on an understrength England outfit.
With some stars set to return for the visitors, expect a far closer encounter in Sydney on Saturday as the Aussies push to wrap things up.
Josh Nevett takes a close look at the contest with his free preview and cricket betting tips below.
Australia vs England 2nd ODI Preview & Betting Tips
SCG, Saturday November 19th, 2:20pm (AEDT)
Squads
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Luke Wood
Match Preview
The final margin of Australia’s victory on Thursday (six wickets) doesn’t quite convey how dominant they were.
Thanks to a strong group bowling effort, the hosts took regular wickets and at numerous stages looked like they would restrict England to sub-250. Enter Dawid Malan. Returning from injury, the classy left-hander produced a stunning 134 (128) to propel the Three Lions to 9-287.
No other batsman scored above 34, while Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa were the standouts for Australia with three wickets apiece.
England could not replicate Australia’s bowling performance, as new opening pair David Warner and Travis Head made the most of a perfect batting deck and short boundaries.
Both scored at better than a run a ball, producing an opening stand of 147 in less than 20 overs. Dismissed for 86 and 69 respectively, the baton was passed on to Steve Smith who was back at his imperious best, scoring 80* (78) to take the game out of England’s reach.
The World Cup champions never really stood a chance, as their makeshift pace attack failed to fire without Sam Curran, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes. David Willey was the best of the bowlers with 2-51, while Olly Stone was the most economical (0-50 off 10).
Game 2 should be a whole different story. Teams are yet unknown, but I expect England to regain at least 3-4 of their top liners who were given a break after Sunday night’s World Cup triumph.
Australia should head into the game with a similar side, although Josh Hazlewood may be brought in to replace one of the spin options, despite Zampa and Ashton Agar performing well in Adelaide.
England’s best may have had a chance to rest, but will they be firing on all cylinders for this game with considerably lower stakes? I have my doubts.
As such, I think Australia will feed on its confidence-building win to record another win in Sydney.
Prop Bets
Sorry to all my followers, who were banking on a Sam Curran masterclass last game. Team selection was guesswork, and it remains that way for this encounter. Nevertheless, as a leg spinner Rashid shouldn’t need to spend too long on the sidelines, and he is a vital cog in England’s team. Australia has a right-hander-heavy middle order, which will play to Rashid’s strengths, and he should be able to extract some turn from the SCG pitch.
Over 1.5 Wickets – Adil Rashid $1.80 (Ladbrokes)
Incredibly, Steve Smith has become a bit of a forgotten figure in the Australian setup of late. Smith was able to amend that on Thursday, producing a flawless 80 that included the crisp, controlled strokeplay he is known for. Batting at three, the shine will hopefully be off the ball when Smith steps to the crease and he is a fantastic accumulator in the middle overs, particularly against spin. Back to him to outscore his teammates on Saturday.
Australia Top Runscorer– Steve Smith $4.00 (Ladbrokes)
