Its three key players, including skipper George Bailey, would be missing in action but the Australian cricket team would look to seal a place in the ODI tri-series final when it clashes with a confident England, here on Friday.
The hosts are placed comfortably on top with two wins from as many matches but their line-up will be without Bailey, who has been suspended for the team’s slow over-rate, allrounder Shane Watson and David Warner — due to hamstring issues. Allrounder Moises Henriques replaced Watson, who had reported tightness in his right hamstring during training at Blundstone Arena and was therefore ruled out of the contest.
England had lost to Australia in the opening match but it outplayed India in the next game and will surely fancy its chances against the hosts.
One more win will ensure Australia’s passage into the February 1 final in Perth and stand-in skipper Steve Smith would look to carry forward his impressive Test leadership to this format too.
A victory for England will make it wide open and then all three teams will have a chance to make the summit clash.
The teams (from):Australia: Steven Smith (captain), Patrick Cummins, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin, Moises Henriques, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Gurinder Sandhu, Mitchell Starc and Cameron White.
England: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell and Chris Woakes.
