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Hazlewood wary of England's firing fresh faces

Australia face an in-form England T20 side full of confidence on Friday

While England's T20 side boasts veterans the likes of Eoin Morgan and Jonny Bairstow, it is the hosts' fresh faces who will be occupying the mind of paceman Josh Hazlewood ahead of Friday's first T20 international in Southampton.

Hazlewood is part of Australia's 21-man squad for the six-game limited-overs series, starting with three 20-over matches against a red-hot England side.

England stormed home to win the second T20I against Pakistan on Sunday, chasing down the target of 196 with five balls to spare, with captain Morgan named player of the match for his 66 from 33 balls, while Dawid Malan made an unbeaten 54.

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The win follows a washout on Friday, where opener Tom Banton hit five sixes in his 42-ball 71 before he was out inside the 13th over.

And it's Banton, the 21-year-old right-hander who scored three half-centuries in seven games for the Brisbane Heat in last summer's KFC Big Bash, who has caught Hazlewood's attention.

"I think it's a few of the new guys that I haven't seen a great deal of," Hazlewood said from Southampton when asked who the standout England players are.

"Tommy Banton, I know I've seen (Dawid) Malan but he's in the runs again.

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"Eoin Morgan just runs a really good ship in the white-ball stuff and everyone knows their roles, their confidence is always high, they always win a lot of games of cricket so they're pretty confident.

"They've got all bases covered in white-ball cricket and we're probably seeing a bit more depth this year with having to have different players in each squad.

"They had a good chase against Pakistan. They know their roles and their white-ball teams are as good as ever."

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Friday's match is the first time Australia has faced England in limited-overs cricket since Morgan's side knocked them out of the 2019 World Cup.

While it's a different format, Hazlewood says the Aussies will still want to get one back on England.

"Whenever you lose a game you always want to win the next game you play against that team," he said. "England are no different.

"It's obviously tough and we're coming off not much cricket, which is why we're playing all these intra-squad matches and they're going really well so far – guys are getting a good hit-out which is good to see.

"England are flying at the moment. There's a couple of new faces we need to look at.

"It's always tough here but we expect to win every game of cricket we play."

Hazlewood was overlooked for the World Cup, thought to be underdone after returning from a back injury, but he returned to bowl brilliantly in the Ashes and take his place in the ODI side.

But the 29-year-old is on the edges of Australia's successful T20 side, which is the No.1-ranked team in the world.

Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins and Kane Richardson formed the pace attack in Australia's last T20I series back in February in South Africa, where they beat the Proteas 2-1.

Hazlewood says he knows where he sits in the T20 pecking order and does not expect a change in the attack while the Aussies keep winning.

"If I was bowling in the team and doing that I'd expect to keep playing," he said. 

"I guess it's just waiting for that position to open up … if we keep winning then that's great and if not, maybe a spot opens up.

"I'll just keep performing at training and keep working my skill set and hopefully keep improving and take an opportunity when it comes."