Smith explains Henriques nod over Lynn

Steve Smith says Australia "got away with one" in their Champions Trophy opener against New Zealand at Edgbaston, a washed out match that effectively means they can't afford another defeat in the cut-throat, three-week tournament.

Smith conceded the Black Caps were in the stronger position when play was abandoned due to persistant rain in the English midlands on Friday, with Australia 25 runs behind the par score on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.

Quick Single: Aussies still afloat after washout

And the skipper says his side needs to treat their remaining two Group A matches, against Bangladesh and tournament favourites England, as knockout games if they are to avoid an early exit.

"We obviously still had some batters in the shed that can certainly play when you need to be chasing a total like that," Smith said after the match ended with his side 3-53 from nine overs chasing a revised target of 235 from 33 overs.

"(But we) certainly would have preferred to being in New Zealand's position when we came off at the end there.

"We still had a lot of work to do and they've got a quality bowling attack as well. So we perhaps got away with one there.

"It's obviously not ideal for both sides to have a washout. So for us now it's just about making sure that we're playing each game like a final and winning the next two.

"It's a pretty quick tournament so you can't really afford ... a washout, really, or a loss. So you've got to turn it around quickly now and control what you can control."

England currently top Group A with two points following their win over Bangladesh on Thursday, while Australia and NZ are on one point each and Bangladesh on zero.

The Australians travel to London tonight ahead of their match against Bangladesh on Monday at The Oval, where rain is again forecast to play a major role.

New Zealand will take on England on Tuesday and then Bangladesh on Friday (both in Cardiff) with the semi-finalists likely to be decided when the Aussies return to Birmingham to face Ashes rivals England next Saturday.

Conditions at The Oval will dictate if any changes are made to the Australian side for the clash against Bangladesh, with Chris Lynn, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa and James Pattinson all presenting strong cases for a recall.

Lynn had been widely tipped in the media to play at Edgbaston but was left out on Friday in favour of allrounder Moises Henriques, whose bowling came in handy after Australia's main quicks conceded 114 runs in the first 15 overs of the match.

Quick Single: Smith slams Aussie quicks

The 30-year-old then came to the crease with Australia two wickets down and already well behind the required scoring rate, and he struck four boundaries in his 18 before popping a return catch back to bowler Adam Milne.

"It was probably in our plans (to pick Henriques)," Smith said when asked if the allrounder's inclusion had been a late decision.

"We could have gone a couple of different ways. Moises's bowling was quite handy today as well. He's a good fielder, so we went that option.

"Obviously today didn't work out. We're going pretty hard as well just before the rain came down to try and get in front of the game.

"So it wasn't an ideal sort of scenario. But hopefully we can see him score some runs in the next game."

Smith added he wasn't overly concerned with his side's top-order wobble given they needed more than seven runs an over to win the match.

"Guys were going pretty hard," he said.

"We had a pretty big total to chase down and those can go sort of one or two ways.

"Those guys can come off, which they do majority of the time. So we're not really worried about that."

Champions Trophy 2017 Guide

AUSTRALIA SQUAD: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

Other squads: Every Champions Trophy squad

Schedule

1 June – England beat Bangladesh by eight wickets

2 June – Australia v New Zealand- match abandoned

3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (D)

4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (D)

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (D/N)

6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (D)

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)

19 June – Reserve day (D)