3 Reasons why England can pip Australia in the ODI Series

Five months after Australia were handed down a 4-1 beating by England, they take on their Ashes rivals yet again in a five-match ODI series beginning June 13. Not only is the venue changed from last time around but also the face of Australian cricket has changed a lot since then. There has been a vast shift in and around the Cricket Australia circuit resulting from the now in-famous Australia-South Africa Test series.

The team from Down Under are five-time World Cup Winners and when it comes to the 50-over format, they can instil fear in any opposition they face. Australia enjoy a healthy win record against the English team having 81 wins in 142 matches against them. They even boast of having a more than 50% win record in England.

While England are sitting pretty at the No.1 position in the ICC ODI Team Rankings owing to their 3-2 win against the Blackcaps, 4-1 win against Australia, and 4-0 series win against the West Indies, Australia are languishing at No. 5 in the Rankings.

However, the English got a shocker when the team from Scotland handed the favourites a 6-run thumping on Sunday.

Despite that, England still head into Wednesday's clash as series favourites and here are 3 reasons why:

#1 Shift in the reigns might leave Australia hanging

In the aftermath of the 'Sandpaper Gate' scandal, Australia's then captain, Steve Smith and vice-captain, David Warner were handed one-year bans from international and domestic cricket.

Warner has been a dominant force at the top of the order, providing the Aussie batting line-up flying starts and while Steve Smith might not look as invincible when he plays the shorter format as he does when he dons the whites, he is still a central part of Australia's ODI setup. His experience as a captain and in the middle-order will be dearly missed by the Kangaroos when they take on the No.1 ODI team.

Additionally, coach Darren Lehmann stepped down from his position after the completion of the Aus-SA Test series and the celebrated former Aussie batsman Justin Langer was offered to hold the office.

Now in a remarkable comeback, the 33-year old Tim Paine has been asked to lead this new-look Australian team on the field.

While one shouldn't count their eggs before they are hatched, the first assignment for this young team looks rather demanding where they visit the English team which has had an upper hand over them lately.

Now, will this Australian team sans their known stalwarts hold true to their strong-willed, unabashed playing ways while the entire world has eyes on them eighty days after the 'Sandpaper Gate'? Time will tell.

#2 Lack of fire in Australia's pace attack

Starc has been suffering from a back injury

A layman can tell that the cricket ball swings no better than when it swings in the English conditions. And the 'battle of the bowlers' could well decide between who takes this trophy home and who doesn't.

Australia could have been impregnable had their 'Pace Trio' been around but unfortunately for the Men from Down Under, that is not the case. Mitchell Starc (back), Pat Cummins (back), and Josh Hazlewood (back), have all been ruled out due to injuries. This comes as a huge blow to the Australian team when they were looking to rejuvenate themselves back into international cricket.

While Langer and Paine would hope that the likes of Andrew Tye, Billy Stanlake, and Jhye Richardson would be enough to inject the zeal into the team environment, their lack of experience on such a tour might prove to have repercussions.

Overall, the Australian team looks significantly weaker than the one that took on England earlier this year.

#3 England's formidable batting line-up

Bairstow is making a case for being a force to be reckoned with

Despite England's star all-rounder, Ben Stokes being ruled out of the Series already, this England line-up looks as good as it has ever been.

The top six skites of heavyweight batsmen like Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, and Eoin Morgan, each of which can take any bowling attack on their day to the cleaners single-handedly. Not only do the England side come in with the reputation of these menacing names, these players have also been in some stellar form recently, be it the IPL or the one-off game against Scotland.

Jos Buttler took Rajasthan Royals into the Playoffs on his own while Jonny Bairstow has been in his own zone hitting centuries for rollicking fun in the middle. He comes off the back of getting his name in the record books for England when he hit his third consecutive ODI century against Scotland. In addition, they have the ever-reliant no. 3 in their star batsman, Joe Root.

Pin them against the injury-marred Aussie bowling line-up and you can see who's winning the battle on paper.