Mark Wood return and how can England dismiss Steve Smith among ODI talking points

Sport360 staff 15:27 12/01/2018
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  • Wood will return to Durham ahead of the Pakistan Test series.

    England’s five-match one-day series against Ashes conquerors Australia gets under way in Melbourne on Sunday.

    Here, Press Association Sport assesses five key areas of debate.

    CAN ENGLAND DISMISS STEVE SMITH WITH A WHITE BALL?

    Having found the red Kookaburra no more use than a bar of soap when it came to getting out the Australia captain during the Test series, England will be hoping the change of hue brings a change of fortunes. Having averaged 137.40 in the Ashes, it can hardly get any worse, but England skipper Eoin Morgan has already suggested his opposite number is just one of many threats. “I don’t think he is the key wicket,” he said. “He is an unbelievable player and his run of form has been freakish, but there are loads of other impact players in their side.”

    SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 08: Steve Smith of Australia celebrates victory and winning the Ashes during day five of the Fifth Test match in the 2017/18 Ashes Series between Australia and England at Sydney Cricket Ground on January 8, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

    Man of the Ashes: Steve Smith.

    WOOD TO MAKE HIS MARK

    Durham paceman Mark Wood is an alluring figure for English cricket fans starved of pace during recent years. He is an effervescent presence in the middle, generating venomous deliveries off a short, staccato run and asking questions many of his compatriots simply cannot. But his international CV is a frustratingly slender one, hampered by a catalogue of injuries. Now fully fit, hopes are high he can leave his mark on the Aussies in their own back yard.

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