McDonald seeks to bolster ODI depth as NZ awaits

Australia will continue to tinker with their ODI line-up in the upcoming Dettol ODI Series against New Zealand as the 2023 World Cup draws closer.

The Aussies face the Kiwis in three one-dayers, beginning in Cairns on Tuesday, having just defeated Zimbabwe 2-1 in Townsville.

On a difficult Riverway Stadium wicket, Zimbabwe bowled Australia out for 141 and upset the hosts in the third ODI on Saturday, rounding out a series that had been a nightmare for the batters.

The 9:40am local starts resulted in some very short matches, with only 194 overs bowled in the series (of a possible 300).

The average runs per wicket of 18.36 across the three matches was the lowest of any bilateral ODI series ever held in Australia.

With now only 14 one-day internationals to come for Australia before the ODI World Cup in India in October-November 2023, the locals will be hoping for some less extreme conditions for the matches in Cairns, which will begin at 2:20pm.

"I think the later start times (in Cairns) should mean it's not as spicy in the morning as it has been here," coach Andrew McDonald told reporters after the loss to Zimbabwe.

"You'll see the balance of our team start to shift from game to game at times, just making sure that we're covering all the bases."

"We haven't got a hell of a lot of cricket, leading into that 2023 World Cup.

Australia captain Aaron Finch stated before the Zimbabwe series that they wanted to "juggle the structure of the team around a bit over the next little while".

And following Mitch Marsh's ankle injury and the loss to Zimbabwe on Saturday, the Australians might be juggling more than they had first planned, with McDonald keen to improve the strength of the entire squad to safeguard against future injuries.

"We had a forced one with Mitch Marsh, so that forced our hand a little bit," McDonald said.

"We wanted to bat deeper in the series with Cameron Green at number eight (but) it was a quick shift away from that with Marsh's injury.

"We've got Marnus (Labuschagne) and Josh Inglis sitting there waiting as extra batting.

"Also Sean Abbott, we're encouraged by what he can potentially offer as well.

"We're trying to build some depth. We've built some depth over the last couple of years.

"COVID forces a little bit of depth with the extended squads and people not being able to tour, because of quarantine, and all that sort of stuff."

But what awaits Australia and New Zealand in Cairns is relatively unknown.

There hasn't been any international cricket in Cairns since 2004, when Australia drew with Sri Lanka in a 2004 Test match.

Image Id: 8B2AD585BE6D4E79A3C8C5622926CE4D Image Caption: Shane Warne acknowledges the Cairns crowd after equalling Muthiah Muralidaran’s then record of 527 Test wickets in July 2004 // Getty

Only five of the Aussie squad have played a match at Cazaly's Stadium, but none recently.

Steve Smith and David Warner played a One-Day Cup match there in 2008-09, Josh Inglis played an Australia A match there in 2016-17 and Marnus Labuschagne and Adam Zampa played a Sheffield Shield match in 2017-18.

Game one against New Zealand is on Tuesday, from 2:20pm AEST on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports.

Men's Dettol ODI Series v New Zealand

Tuesday, Sep 6: Cazaly Stadium, Cairns, 2:20pm

Thursday, Sep 8: Cazaly Stadium, Cairns, 2:20pm

Sunday Sep 11: Cazaly Stadium, Cairns, 2:20pm

Australia squad: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

New Zealand squad: Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson (c)

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