Star Australian pair under fitness cloud

Australia will be sweating on the fitness of superstar pair Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc as they look ahead to a potentially series-winning second ODI against England on Monday.

Aaron Finch's side completed a 19-run win over the world champs in the first ODI in Manchester on Friday, and have now enjoyed success in two of their past three 50-over matches against their oldest cricketing rival, stretching back to last year's World Cup in England.

Whether or not it represents a turning point in the recent dominance by Eoin Morgan's men remains to be seen (England have won 11 of their past 14 encounters with Australia), however with the momentum in Australia's favour and the chance to claim a bilateral ODI series win over England for the first time since 2015 as well as continue a strong start to the 2023 World Cup qualification process, the presence – or indeed absence – of Smith and Starc could well be decisive.

Smith was a late withdrawal from Friday's match after copping a head knock in the nets on match eve, some 13 months on from being infamously felled by a Jofra Archer bouncer at Lord's during last year’s Ashes. That knock caused him to miss the second innings of that Test and the following match as well, and Australia's medical staff will doubtless take all precautions before declaring him fit for Sunday's match when he is assessed again on Saturday UK time.

In Smith's stead, Western Australia batter Marcus Stoinis was promoted to bat at number three for the first time since March 2019, and went at least some way to repaying the faith with a promising 43 from 34 deliveries. 

Starc meanwhile, got through his 10 overs on Friday (0-47) but was clearly in some discomfort with a groin issue he suffered when he slipped in the field. The left-armer remains Australia's chief strike weapon with the white ball but, as with Smith, will likely be managed extremely carefully ahead of the massive home summer that looms for the hosts.

After his dominant World Cup campaign in 2019 in which he was the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 27, Starc has experienced the leanest calendar year of his ODI career in 2020, taking seven wickets in seven matches at an average of 65.33 and strike-rate of 65.5, well below his remarkable career numbers of 22.48 and 26.4 respectively.

Right-armer Kane Richardson, who was 12th man in the first ODI, would appear to be the logical replacement for the 30-year-old should he be deemed unfit for Sunday's second match.

2020 Tour of England

Australia's T20 and ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood. Reserves: Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood. Reserves: Joe Denly, Saqib Mahmood

First T20: England won by two runs

Second T20: England won by six wickets with seven balls to spare

Third T20: Australia won by five wickets with three balls to spare

1st ODI: Australia won by 19 runs

September 13:2nd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST

September 16:3rd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST