ONE-DAY SERIES: AUSTRALIA DOWN 2-0 AFTER ANOTHER DEFEAT

THE golden summer for Australia’s selectors is over after another heavy defeat to England at the Gabba last night.

England chased down Australia’s 9-270 with four wickets in hand to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match one-day international series. It was Australia’s ninth loss from its past 10 completed ODI matches, highlighting the reigning world champions’ struggles in the 50-over format over the past year.

Just weeks after recording a comprehensive 4-0 Ashes series victory, Australia, the fifthranked ODI team in the world, has been clearly outclassed by No.3-ranked England.

“We were in a good position,” Australia captain Steve Smith lamented. “We lost a couple of wickets in a row. We just couldn’t get that power going in the back end.

“It’s a final for us now [in the third match in Sydney tomorrow]. We’ve got to play some better cricket.”

The calls for Nathan Lyon to be recalled to the ODI side for the first time in 17 months grew louder with Shane Warne claiming it was “weird” the in-form spinner had been overlooked for the series.

Pace spearheads Josh Hazlewood (virus) and Pat Cummins (rested) were absent last night while the squad’s only specialist spinner, Adam Zampa, was dropped on a pitch that saw England’s spinners claim five wickets.

After producing some excellent selections for the Ashes series, the panel’s decisions have been questioned during the 50over series on the back of Australia’s two comprehensive losses.

The most contentious has been the snubbing of Lyon, arguably the world’s premier spinner, who has shown he is no white-ball dud by dominating in the Big Bash League for the Sydney Sixers.

While he boasts a modest ODI record (17 wickets at 34.82), Lyon played the last of his 13 matches in August 2016 and has since developed into a far superior bowler.

Australia’s spin shortfalls were there to see when part-timers Travis Head (0-55) and Aaron Finch (0-17) bowled inside the opening 13 overs as Smith desperately chased a breakthrough.

England opener Jason Roy fell 178 runs short of replicating his first match heroics, falling for just two, but all that did was bring Alex Hales (57) and Jonny Bairstow (60) together to set up the successful run chase.

Debutant Jhye Richardson (2-57) was excellent.