Switch to ODIs well suited to highly-skilled Aussies: Mooney

Somewhere between The Oval and Lord’s, amid their week-long stint in London, Australia wandered into unfamiliar territory.

The tourists lost back-to-back matches for the first time since 2017 and now only hold a two-point lead over England in the multi-format Ashes, but star bat Beth Mooney believes a switch to the one-day format will suit the trophy holders.

Australia need only win one of the three one-dayers to retain the Ashes and will go in confident having won their past 15 games in the format, and 41 of their past 42 ODIs since November 2017.

"One-day cricket is a format where the best players come to the fore and the best technically correct and the best skilled players come to the fore," Mooney told cricket.com.au following the third T20I.

"So I still look at our changeroom and think we have a highly-skilled group of players to be able to play that format and win the three games coming up.

"We've been pretty consistent in that format across a long period of time so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of confidence taken out of that."

England have not beaten Australia in a one-dayer since October 2017, when they claimed a 20-run DLS victory at Coffs Harbour in the third game of the Ashes.

Since then Australia have won eight matches between the two sides on the bounce; sweeping the ODI legs of the last two Ashes series and defeating England in both the group stage and in the final of the 2022 World Cup in New Zealand.

England are full of confidence after taking out the T20 leg of the Ashes 2-1, while Australia will be trying to work out why they have yet to completely click with bat, ball or in the field before the first ODI in Bristol on Wednesday.

While their last consecutive defeats were in the 2017 Ashes, those losses came in the final two matches of the seven-game series with the Ashes already retained.

The last time Australia lost back-to-back games with the Ashes trophy still up for grabs was the 2013 edition in the United Kingdom, where the tourists won the first ODI following a drawn Test, but England won five white-ball games on the trot to take out the series 12-4.

"I think we'll have to look inward into our dressing room and what we can do differently and a little bit better here and there," Mooney said of Australia's T20I defeats.

"We'll put our heads together in the next couple of days and come up with some ideas."

Australia travelled from London to Bristol on Sunday.

Their 15-player squad will have a day to rest and reset on Monday before resuming their preparations for the first one-day international at Bristol on Wednesday.

CommBank Ashes Tour of the UK 2023

Australia lead the multi-format series 6-4

Test: Australia won by 89 runs

First T20I: Australia won by four wickets

Second T20I: England won by three runs

Third T20I: England won by five wickets (DLS)

First ODI: July 12 at The County Ground, Bristol, 1pm (10pm AEST)

Second ODI: July 16 at The Rose Bowl, Southampton, 11am (7pm AEST)

Third ODI: July 18 at The County Ground, Taunton, 1pm (10pm AEST)

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

England T20 squad: Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver-Brunt (vc), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Issy Wong, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Danielle Wyatt