England and Australia vie for key Super League points

Aaron Finch (left) and Eoin Morgan

The reigning World champions England will be up against formidable opposition Australia in a three-match One Day International (ODI) series in Manchester from today as both teams look for important ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League points.

England played at home in the only series of the Super League so far, winning 2-1 against Ireland, while five-time World Cup winners Australia will look to make a bright start to their campaign for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 against the defending champions.

The Super League, introduced to bring context to ODI cricket, will determine qualification for 2023, with the top seven teams booking their spots along with hosts India.

Featuring 13 teams, the 12 ICC Full Members and the Netherlands, who qualified by winning the ICC World Cricket League Championship 2015-17, the Super League will see each side play four home and four away three-match series. The sides failing to qualify directly will get a second shot through a Qualifier.

Each team gets 10 points for a win, five for a tie/no result/abandonment and none for a loss. 

Teams will be ranked according to total points earned across the eight series.

The England-Australia series will also feature many leading players in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings including formerly top-ranked Australia players David Warner (presently ranked sixth), Mitchell Starc (10th) and Josh Hazlewood (15th). 

Among other Australia players to watch are Captain Aaron Finch (seventh) among batsmen and fast bowler Pat Cummins (fourth), who too have enjoyed higher rankings in the past.
For England, Joe Root is the highest ranked batsman in ninth place. The Test Captain would be looking to claw back towards the second rank he enjoyed two years ago while Jonny Bairstow (13th) and Jason Roy (14th) have a chance to return to the top 10. 

Chris Woakes is seventh among bowlers and fifth among all-rounders.

The teams

Australia (From): Aaron Finch (Captain), 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 and Adam Zampa.
England (From): Eoin Morgan (Captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Joe Denly and Saqib Mahmood.  (ICC)