England v Australia 1st ODI preview

England and Australia renew their white-ball battle this week after Sunday’s T20 series decider in Manchester was frustratingly abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Trent Bridge will play host to the opening ODI fixture on Thursday, with England attempting to record their first 50-over series win over the Aussies since 2018.

We preview the action below.

Bet on Cricket with William Hill

England v Australia – Thursday 12:30

Many England fans would have been fearing the worst when their new-look T20 XI succumbed to a concerning 28-run defeat in Southampton last Wednesday. The extent to which their bowling attack was taken down by the brute force of Australia’s top order – led brilliantly by Matthew Short and the imperious Travis Head – brought back flashes of their World Cup humiliation at the hands of their oldest rivals earlier this year.

England however, captained by Phil Salt, responded valiantly in the next match and chased down an imposing score of 193 in just 19 overs, with Liam Livingstone’s bludgeoning 87 off 47 deliveries the highlight of the match and seeing the 31-year-old climb to the top of the T20 allrounder rankings.

Another big positive was Jake Bethell’s performance. Eyes were raised when the Barbados-born allrounder was selected at number five in the hosts’ opening game, with some suggestions that England were lining up with a seven-strong tail, but the left-hander’s huge leg-side ball striking was notably impressive and even had a hint of the recently retired Moeen Ali about it.

Both Livingstone and Bethell will feature again over the next ten days in an England side – who are the 6/4 underdogs for Thursday’s opener – captained by Harry Brook in Jos Buttler’s absence. Other notable team news sees Test opener Ben Duckett added to the squad – he’s the 3/1 favourite to score the most runs for England tomorrow on his home ground and 2/1 to pass fifty generally.

From a bowling perspective, Saqib Mahmood is in line to play his first ODI since March 2023 and should line up along the likes of Jofra Archer and Reece Topley as the frontline pacemen. However, due to the rapid outfield and short boundaries at Trent Bridge, we’re leaning towards the spinners to make the difference for both sides on Thursday, so one of Adil Rashid (12/5) or even the aforementioned Livingstone (19/5) to pick up the most wickets may be worth better value.

Australia remain narrow favourites

Despite England’s victory in Southampton the other night, Mitch Marsh’s men go into Thursday’s encounter as the 8/15 favourites to record a 1-0 series lead. Their white-ball programme has often been described as undercooked and unimaginative, but a 2023 ICC World Cup victory on Indian soil and a new-look, brutal top order suggests they’re slowly beginning to peak as a limited-over outfit.

The biggest testament to this has been the emergence of Travis Head as their opening batsman over the past 18 months, which has coincided with a return to the Test team for the left-hander. As exemplified the other night, Head is arguably the best top-order player in the world on current form and has remarkable consistency with racking up serious scores at alien strike rates of close to 200. He leads the market at 5/2 to top the scoring charts for his side tomorrow, with the less aggressive but equally talented Steve Smtih next at 16/5.

Australia’s veteran and versatile seam attack of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc likewise still ranks among the best in the world and they remain an incredibly difficult team to beat, even if their middle order can be guilty of giving away wickets cheaply on occasion.

As mentioned with England however, putting faith in spin may be a smarter approach with the unforgiving nature of the Trent Bridge pitch. Adam Zampa needs no introduction at limited-over level and sits third in the top bowler market for the visitors at 23/10 to pick up the most English wickets, with Starc (7/4) leading the betting.