Australia still believe they can avoid the first 5-0 whitewash in their history against England – but know too they will have to play at their very best to do so.
Ashton Agar conceded on the eve of the one-day international series finale at Old Trafford that he and his team-mates have been outplayed by the world number ones so far.
But the left-arm spinner insists too that there is still belief rather than just mere hope of much-needed consolation for the depleted World Cup holders.
“It’s going to be tough, but I absolutely believe we can beat them. We have no choice (but) to believe that we can beat them,” he said.
“But we need to play our very best cricket against a side that’s played really well four games in a row now.
Lots of people saying the England men’s ODI team haven’t been challenged as Australia are playing their “B team.”
— Charles Dagnall (@CharlesDagnall) June 23, 2018
Didn’t they beat their “A team” 4-1 in their own backyard last winter?
🤔
“We have to bring our absolute best. We have plenty to gain out of tomorrow, plenty to gain, to just put things into practice and just let it all out there.
“You go 100 percent every game, but I think it means more to us now to go as hard as we can and just leave nothing out there.”
Agar does not quibble with the obvious assessment that so far Tim Paine’s team have fallen well short of the challenge.
“You’re right, we have been outplayed, that’s the truth,” said Agar.
“All we can do now is focus on us and look to improve in every area possible – batting, bowling, fielding.
“We’ve had the meetings – we’ve had really good open and honest discussions with each other, staff, players, everyone.
“We’ve addressed what we think we might need to work on and we have to go and do that today and hope to put that into practice tomorrow and try to get a better result.”
