England to Steal No.1 Ranking in ODI Cricket from Australia?
The Australian cricket team needs to collect their act as England is moving its way up and defeated the Aussies twice.
English men put Aussies to shame after outplaying the latter in the One-Day International tournament. Moreover, grabbing the top rank in the sport no longer seem impossible for the United Kingdom.
The Australian team encountered massive problems scoring in the middle of the innings against England's imposing four-pronged pace attack and spinner Graeme Swann. The team scored a sleep-inducing 40 runs between the 20th and 35th overs on Sunday at the Oval.
Skipper Michael Clarke admitted that there is something wrong with the national team and they need to make huge and swift changes to turn the tables on game three.
"Rotation of strike is an area of our game we continue to work on and what we need to improve is facing spin bowling," Clarke said.
"That has always been talked about my whole career that we need to improve facing spin bowling and today was another example of that," the skipper quickly added.
Clarke blamed both the batsmen and bowlers, citing that Australian players are very talented. However, there is a dire need to transform that talent into performance.
England, on the other hand, rigorously builds its team on its home soil. Moreover, there is the home court advantage that continuously gives Englishmen the confidence. The team has won their past six one-day series and not been defeated in a Test series in four years.
If England stole the No.1 ranking from Australia, it would make England the first team to hold a "triple crown" in cricket, as it already leads the Test table and the new T20 rankings, which were introduced just eight months ago.
The series continues in Birmingham on Wednesday, followed by matches on Saturday and next Tuesday.