Australian rotation gives tourists break from pace

Australian threats to keep the “foot on the throat” of England fall a little flat with the realisation that they have won only one of their past 11 one-day internationals.

Last year alone, they picked 25 players. England have used only 27 players in total since the last World Cup 2½ years ago. One team in this series are settled, the other are experimenting. Australia, the world champions, have turned to 34-yearold Cameron White, who has not played an ODI for three years.

They will also rotate their fast bowlers in this series. Josh Hazlewood will not play in Melbourne in the early hours of tomorrow morning, Pat Cummins will miss the second game in Brisbane and Mitchell Starc will rest at some point, too, giving England’s batsmen respite. The restrictions on bouncers in white-ball cricket will also make life a lot easier than in the Ashes.

As noted during the Test series when Starc missed Melbourne, the backup bowling lacks the same punch when one of the big three is out.

David Warner missed training yesterday with a stomach bug which seems to be sweeping through both teams and could have been caught from Joe Root at the SCG this week. Warner is expected to be well enough to play at the MCG, where he scored a hundred in the Ashes Test on Boxing Day. He remains Australia’s king in ODIS, ranked behind only Virat Kohli in the world charts.

White was called up when Chris Lynn pulled out injured. It was the second snub for Glenn Maxwell, who has been told to be more professional, as captain Steve Smith further stamps his authority on Australian cricket.

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis is one of several middle-order players still looking to establish a secure role in the side.

He said: “It’s good timing for us winning the Ashes, coming to this one-day series it’s been a long tour for England so far. There’s probably some new players over as well, so, yeah, foot on the throat, let’s make it a good one.

“They are a good one-day outfit and we’ll be preparing really well for them, we had a meeting yesterday, ran through all their players again and all that sort of thing.

“But there’s also not too much to lose for them, after the Ashes they’ll come out with a fresh sense of authority. They’ll have a crack.”