Bairstow braced to face hungry Aussies

Jonny Bairstow is braced for Australia to provide a real challenge in this month's Qantas tour of England as his teammates look to bounce back from their humbling one-day international defeat to Scotland.

The world's top-ranked ODI team, who play the first of five matches against the Aussies at the Oval in London on Wednesday, were beaten by the Scots by six runs for the very first time in Edinburgh on Sunday.

England captain Eoin Morgan put on a brave face saying the shock reversal will act as perfect preparation for the series.

And Bairstow agreed that facing an Australia side going through an uncertain period following the suspension of star players Steve Smith and David Warner and a change of leadership under new coach Justin Lanager could present new problems.

"It's a completely different challenge and a completely different team that we will be playing," Bairstow said.

"It's a team that has a lot of new guys in, without (Mitchell) Starc, (Josh) Hazlewood, (Pat) Cummins, (David) Warner, (Steven) Smith, so there are guys wanting to compete for places and we know just how dangerous that can be when people are pushing for a permanent place."

The defeat to Scotland meant Bairstow's own personal feats have been somewhat overlooked, but he was once again in scintillating form at the top of the England order as he hit a 54-ball century to mark his third ODI ton on the bounce.

It is the first time an English batsman has achieved the feat - only Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara has more with four - and it was his fifth ton in his last 16 innings.

"To score three on the bounce is really pleasing considering 12 months ago people were questioning whether I should be playing or be opening the batting or be in the middle order," he said.

"Twelve months down the line, to score five hundreds and three on the bounce, I am pleased with where I have gone."

The loss to Scotland was England's first outing since rising to top of the ODI rankings, but Bairstow does not think that tag will affect the team or their opponents going forward.

"It's part and parcel of the game," he said. "You get to number one and people are going to want to beat you, but you want to be number one in the world.

"We set our stall out to be number one in the world and that's where we are, whether we were number one in this game or not, Scotland would still be delighted to win, it's not just because we are number one."

Qantas tours of England and Zimbabwe

ODI squad: Tim Paine (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (injured), David Willey, Chris Woakes (injured), Mark Wood

T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth

Qantas Tour of England

June 7: Australia beat Sussex by 57 runs at Hove

June 9: Australia beat Middlesex by 101 runs at Lord's

June 13: First ODI, The Oval (D/N)

June 16: Second ODI, Cardiff

June 19: Third ODI, Trent Bridge (D/N)

June 21: Fourth ODI, Durham (D/N)

June 24: Fifth ODI, Old Trafford

June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)

Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe

July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 2: Pakistan vs Australia

July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 5: Pakistan vs Australia

July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 8: Final