Australia tour to England 2018 [Preview]
Australia will be keen to get back to winning ways after being embroiled in ball tampering controversy that happened during the Test series against South Africa. Newly appointed captain Tim Paine will be focused to make sure Australia can produce their best against England in the upcoming five-day one-day series that starts from 13th June.
The squad picked by Australian selectors is relatively an inexperienced one as the likes of Alex Carey, D’Arcy Short, Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser will be keen to make their mark on their first trip to the UK.
It didn’t go well for D’Arcy Short as far was his first IPL season is concerned with Rajasthan Royals. The left-hander would certainly enjoy English conditions that have become batting friendly over the past couple of years. Shaun Marsh might move the order to open the innings alongside Aaron Finch. Left-hander has been playing well for Glamorgan in the ongoing 50-over competition in England.
Australia have a plethora of all-rounders in their squad as Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar will be keen to do well in this big series. Glenn Maxwell’s did well for Australia in the trans-Tasman tri-series featuring England and New Zealand. Maxwell’s recent form will be a worry as he suffered from a poor form in the recently concluded Indian Premier League.
Marcus Stoinis has put in impressive numbers for Australia in the one-day format. He has done incredibly well with the bat and scored 566 runs in 13 innings at an average of 62.88. He has one hundred and four half-centuries to his name.
Australia will field a new-pace attack for the one-day series against England. Billy Stanlake, Kane Richardson, and Jhye Richardson are promising players that will be keen to do with the ball.
England will be keen to extend their lead at the top of ICC ODI Rankings when they lock horns against Australia in the forthcoming five-match one-day series. Eoin Morgan and co. will be keen to continue their good form in the format. They were managed to beat Australia in Australia and then beat New Zealand.
Jason Roy and Alex Hales is one of the destructive opening pairs in world cricket and will be keen to more of the same in this upcoming series against Australia. Roy was able to regain his form with the bat on the tour of Australia and produced his career-best performance in the opening game at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Joe Root has been a premier player for England and has done well in the limited-overs format. The hosts will be concerned about Ben Stokes who was struggling with injury. The all-rounder hasn’t been able to regain his form since coming back into the side on the New Zealand tour.
The side has good pace options with Mark Wood, Tom Curran and Jake Ball included in the setup. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are two prominent spinners for England in the one-day format. Sam Billings, Tom Curran, and David Willey are also players selected for the one-day series against Australia.
The first game of the bilateral one-day series will be played at Lords Cricket Ground, London on 13th June. The other games will be played on 16th, 19th, 21st and 24th respectively. The venues selected for series are Cardiff, Nottingham, Chester-Le-Street, and Manchester. The one-day series will be followed by a one-off T20 game that will be played at Birmingham on 27th June to conclude the tour.