As new national one-day captain Pat Cummins attempts to revive Australia’s spark, England are casting around for 11 fresh players to field at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday after days of celebrating their Twenty20 World Cup victory.
Asked how many changes England would make to the team that triumphed over Pakistan at the MCG on Sunday in front of more than 80,000 fans, bleary-eyed England captain Jos Buttler replied: “As many as we can, I think.”
Pat Cummins watches training at the Adelaide Oval ahead of Thursday’s one-day match against EnglandCredit:Getty Images
While Buttler avoided England all-rounder Moeen Ali’s description of having to play again just four days after their title victory as “horrible”, the skipper admitted it would be tough.
“It’s going to be a challenge, there’s no point … trying to say all the right things, that we’ll be at our best,” he said.
“But there’s a few guys that are coming in fresh, a few guys that haven’t had much game time in the World Cup who are desperate to make their mark, and I’m sure playing against Australia we’ll be fully fired up.
“We’ll have to switch on pretty fast.”
England celebrate winning the T20 World Cup in Melbourne last Sunday.Credit:Getty Images
Those fresh players could include recently arrived batsmen Sam Billings, Jason Roy and James Vince along with all-rounder Liam Dawson and reserve pacemen Luke Wood, David Willey and Ollie Stone.
Recovered from a bout of gastro early in the week, Cummins said England’s celebrations were “rightly deserved”.
“They might be a little bit short of sleep, but they’re a class side and a few of their squad members for the one-dayers weren’t in the T20s as well, which I’m sure will create a bit of impact, but they’re riding high,” Cummins said.
“They obviously had a great T20 campaign, so they’ll be strong no doubt, even if a bit tired.”
While disappointed not to make the finals and defend the T20 title they won in Dubai last year, Cummins believes Australia’s performance wasn’t as bad as it was portrayed.
Moeen Ali described having to play a one-day match four days after winning the T20 World Cup as “horrible”.Credit:Getty Images
“I feel some of the commentary has probably been a bit dramatised,” Cummins said. “If you look back, we did just lose one game.”
“We might not have played our best cricket but if a few different things fell our way we still might have been in the finals and anything could have happened.
“I think we sting a little bit knowing that we didn’t play our best, and especially that first game against New Zealand made it tough for ourselves.
“But I feel like we’re a good side in any format. Hopefully we can show it out here with England now.”
The next major white-ball campaign is the 50-over World Cup in India a year from now.
“The last probably 12 to 24 months really has been a big focus on T20 cricket in white ball. Now that focus shifts,” Cummins said.
