Alex Hales has scored more hundreds since the last World Cup than any Australian batsman touring England this summer and yet heads into Tuesday’s third one-dayer, on his home ground of Trent Bridge, knowing big runs are needed from him and fast.
It is telling of the relative strengths of the two sides in this series, one England can now wrap up at the earliest opportunity, that Hales would likely stroll into the visiting XI and yet will be fall guy for the hosts when Ben Stokes returns from a hamstring injury next month.
Hales has scored five centuries in the past three years but, having relinquished his opening spot last summer following the Bristol nightclub incident and with Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow blazing a trail as the first-choice pairing, he knows it is time to deliver.
“I’m on the fringes and any chance I can get it’s up to me to convert big runs and put some pressure on Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow,” said Hales, who has one half-century in three innings at No 3 this summer.
“Looking at the way things are now, I’m the one who drops out once Stokes comes back. But things can change quickly. It’s up to me to use these three [remaining] games well and try and score as many runs as possible.”
While Eoin Morgan is due to return after the back spasm that meant he missed Saturday’s win in Cardiff, Stokes will train with the team in Durham and Manchester this week with a view to playing in July’s Twenty20s and one-dayers against India. The prognosis for England’s second casualty, Chris Woakes, is less positive.
The Warwickshire seamer is recovering from a torn quad muscle suffered in the second Test against Pakistan but a longstanding issue in his right knee has flared up since. As it stands, Woakes is battling to face India with the white ball and may well see the target for his return shifted to the Test series in August.
That England have coped so far without the pair (a mauling by Scotland’s batsmen notwithstanding) is telling of their strength and Australia’s clear weakness. Tim Paine’s confused-looking side pitch up after 13 defeats from their past 15 completed one-day matches and having plunged to a 34-year low ranking of sixth in the world.
Without the suspended David Warner, Aaron Finch is their most successful batsman since they lifted the World Cup at home in March 2015 with four centuries. Despite significant success from opener – not least versus England, against whom he averages 50 – the right-hander was stationed at No 5 in Cardiff for the first time and duly returned a duck.
Finch agreed that sixth was a fair reflection of Australia’s one-day cricket. “We haven’t won any series for a while [they beat Pakistan at home in early 2017]. We’ve just been outplayed in the last little while as well.”
Should England, ranked No 1 in the world, be the template? “They play their own way. They go ultra-hard up top, rely on their spin a lot through the middle overs. If we tried to copy that, it would be foolish because we play in a different style.
“But we’ve won a lot of World Cups – we’ve got some guys in our changing room that have won them. What we do is right. We know it’s right. But time will tell.”
Australia are expected to welcome back the 6ft 8in Billy Stanlake to their attack after missing out on Saturday with a cut toe and Paine has been cleared to play by a dentist following the gory dislodged tooth suffered when struck by a ball during the 38-run defeat.
Trent Bridge is the scene of Paine’s only one-day international century, back in 2009 when, from opener, he struck 111 during what eventually became a 6-1 series victory for the tourists. How the tables have turned since.
