Australia on cusp of historic series loss

With Australia already 2-0 down in the Gillette ODI Series, Steve Smith's side faces the unwelcome prospect of being the first side to ever lose a bilateral ODI series to England on home soil.

England last won three consecutive ODIs on Australian soil at the back end of a tri-series in early 2007, but they have cruised to victory by five wickets in Melbourne, and four wickets on Friday night at the Gabba.

Joe Root has been unbeaten at the crease in both matches, anchoring an explosive England batting line-up that has caught Australia by surprise.

It means England have now won five of their past six ODIs against Australia, and will be aiming for a fourth consecutive win, dating back to the Champions Trophy last winter when a Ben Stokes century bundled the Aussies out of the competition.

However, there is no better place than Sydney for Australia to resurrect the campaign – England have not won at the venue for a decade.

Their last victory was a 34-run Duckworth-Lewis win in February 2007 where Paul Collingwood smacked 70 and Liam Plunkett claimed 3-43 as the Australian innings was interrupted by downpours several times.

England and Australia have played in Sydney four times since then, with the Aussies winning each match.

In fact, the SCG is something of an ODI stronghold for Australia, with the home side having won nine of the past 10 ODI matches there, including the World Cup semi-final in 2015.

The only defeat Australia have suffered in their past 10 games at the SCG was a 2016 ODI against India, when Manish Pandey's unbeaten century inspired India to chase down Australia's 7-330 that featured a ton to David Warner.

Warner, with scores of 2 and 35 so far this series, has not yet recaptured his prolific ODI form of recent years. He has averaged at least 54 in ODI cricket for each of the past three calendar years, with 12 centuries in that time.

Warner also loves playing at his home venue. He has three centuries and four fifties in 12 innings at the venue, boasting an average above 60 (and a full six runs higher than his career mark). Against England, he averages 99 at the venue.

With Australia set to field a full-strength line-up in the must-win clash, fast bowler Pat Cummins holds a decisive edge against Alex Hales.

Hales has faced just eight balls from Cummins in his ODI career – and been dismissed by three of them, with just the one run scored.

For England, the match will mark Root's 100th ODI. England's Test captain is unburdened by the captaincy in the white-ball formats, with Eoin Morgan taking the reins. In 93 innings Root averages 51.7 – an impressive mark bettered only by three men to have played more matches: AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Australian ODI legend Michael Bevan.

Morgan is on the cusp of a milestone as well – he needs 12 runs to overtake Ricky Ponting as the all-time leading run-scorer in Australia-England ODIs. Ponting currently holds the mark with 1,598 runs.

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