Oz, England start WC preparations

With the World Cup in the back of their minds, favourites Australia and England will lock horns in the opening match of the ODI cricket tri-series here on Friday, looking to test their squads one last time in the final lead-up to next month’s mega-event. High on confidence after the 2-0 Test series win over India, the Australians will face England at the SCG before renewing hostilities with India in Melbourne on Sunday.

The series will be especially vital for England as the team would look to settle down under new captain Eoin Morgan. In a big decision, England replaced Alastair Cook with Morgan as captain in less than two months before the World Cup. Under Morgan’s leadership, England have piled up runs in their two warm-up games in Canberra, scoring a total of 755. Ian Bell has been in threatening form as he blasted 187 off 145 balls in the 60-run win over the Prime Minister’s XI on Wednesday.

But skipper Morgan is in desperate need of runs, having scored just one fifty in his past 19 ODI innings. Australia, on the other hand, are one of the favourites to lift the World Cup but will be without skipper Michael Clarke in the tri-series as he is recovering from a hamstring surgery. In Clarke’s absence, Twenty20 captain George Bailey will lead the side. Playing for the Prime Minister’s XI, all-rounder Glenn Maxwell smashed 136 off only 89 balls against England and looks set to explode in the tri-series. But skipper Bailey desperately needs runs to cement his place in the team because if Clarke regains his fitness before the World Cup it is highly unlikely the former will feature in the playing XI. Pacers Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood could be rested.