Australia captain looks to shoulder the load again to lift under-performing ODI side out of the doldrums in must-win clash
Skipper Smith wants more from himself
Steve Smith has put it on his own bat to fix Australia's woes in the must-win one-day clash with England at the SCG.
Smith has produced centuries in two of his past four limited-overs matches in Sydney, but has found himself questioning his own one-day form, despite recently producing one of the greatest Ashes Test summers in recent memory.
The Australian captain has scored 269 runs at an average of 33.62 in his past 10 ODI innings, as Australia have secured just one win in that time.
And he said it's time he went on with a big score as Australia attempt to avoid going 3-0 down on Sunday in the five-match Gillette ODI series.
"I definitely think I've got a lot of room for improvement," Smith said.
"I don't think I've been playing one-day cricket as well as I could for the last few series. I have pretty high expectations of myself and I haven't been meeting them recently.
"I've got to start nailing it down. I've got a few starts but got to start going onto them and setting the team up a little bit more."
Australia, unbeaten in home one-day series since late 2010, have twice failed to go on and make match-winning totals while batting first in the opening games of the one-day series against England.
Wickets fell at the wrong time in Melbourne before their 305 was easily pursued by England, while in Brisbane they lost 6-61 as they failed to go at above a run a ball in the final 10 overs.
"It's just making better decisions or executing our skills better in those key moments," Smith said.
"We've just got to execute our skills better in those moments to ensure we get the scores we need to play against quality oppositions like England and India."
2017-18 International Fixtures
Gillette ODI Series v England
Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Cameron White, Adam Zampa.
England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
First ODI England won by five wickets at the MCG
Second ODI England won by four wickets at the Gabba
Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets
Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets
Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets
Prime Minister's XI
PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets
Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series
England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, David Willey, Mark Wood.
First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets
Second T20I Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets
Third T20I Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets
Fourth T20I NZ v England, Wellington, February 14
Fifth T20I NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16
Sixth T20I NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18
Final TBC, Eden Park, February 21