England aim to cause Australia more problems

Jon Lewis: will be playing on his home ground at Bristol © Getty Images

A team struggling for form, internal problems with discipline, losing to a domestic team on tour and being humbled by a lowly ranked Test nation. Sounds like an England side from the mid 90s, but those are the problems facing Australia ahead of their next NatWest Series match at Bristol.

Barely 17 hours after watching Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed seal one of the most unlikely victories in one-day history, Australia will face a confident England team who must be wondering what is going on. Firstly Somerset do them a favour by chasing 343, and then Bangladesh decided that now is the time to rock the cricketing world. After the Twenty20 international on Monday and their drubbing of Bangladesh on Thursday - which is now looking a much better performance than at the time - England have set the level that they will be compared to throughout this NatWest Series.

The decision to return to a recognised opening pair of Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss paid immediate dividends and having two specialists against Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie is the way to go. The injury to Simon Jones is more of a long-term concern (will he be fit for the Ashes?) than an immediate problem, as he was unlikely to play anyway with Jon Lewis certain to play on his home ground. Also, Duncan Fletcher is not keen on having four fast bowlers from Nos. 8 to 11 in the order.

So far Vikram Solanki has fielded very well, but he has not had much time to do anything else. He is somewhat wasted at No. 8, yet having him there does allow the England top order to play with freedom knowing they have a long batting order. Now that Andrew Flintoff is back to full fitness Michael Vaughan seems happy to trust Paul Collingwood with most of the fifth lot of 10 overs, but he could do worse than bowl himself more often.

How the middle-order lines up is still to be determined, given that they weren't required against Bangladesh, but a good start would allow Flintoff or even Kevin Pietersen to bat at No. 4, with Collingwood acting as a safety valve.

The history of Bristol - and the secret of Gloucestershire's many one-day victories there - has been to squeeze the opposition as the pitch becomes slower in the second innings. However, the last two ODIs played here have been won by the side batting second. Nevertheless, Gareth Batty's offspin may become an option for England if they opt for another specialist bowler.

What Australia might do is anybody's guess. Nobody really knows how they react to the situation they are currently in - it hasn't happened for quite a while. Ricky Ponting has said he is very close to pushing the panic button, which may mean a quick recall for Brett Lee, but it is more likely that this is a serious rallying cry to his current XI. The outcome of Andrew Symond's disciplinary hearing will be known in the morning and Australia really need his all round versatility and sharpness in the field.

Australia have been rattled by their start to this tour. Ponting may have been able to laugh-off the Twenty20 defeat but now things are deadly serious. England have a chance to cause more problems for Australia and make some significant statements for the rest of the summer.

England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Kevin Pietersen, 7 Geraint Jones (wkt), 8 Vikram Solanki, 9 Jon Lewis, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Steve Harmison

Australia (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist (wkt), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Mike Hussey, 7 Simon Katich, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Jason Gillespie, 10 Michael Kasprowicz, 11 Glenn McGrath