D'Arcy Short and Alex Carey in mix to earn Australia recall ahead of second ODI v England

Here, we assess some of the key taking points before the 50-over match.

Baggy Green could make changes

After being skittled out for just 214 in south west London, Australia’s batting frailties were exposed. At 90-5, things looked bleak until Glenn Maxwell managed to wrestle a stranglehold on their innings and top-score with 62.

That said, it was still Australia’s all-time lowest total against England in the history of the format when winning the toss and electing to have a bat first.

That doesn’t make for pleasant reading for a team searching for formulas and answers.

This weekend, Australian selection boss Trevor Hohns could look to move things around and oust paceman Kane Richardson in favour of either the explosive D’Arcy Short or Alex Carey, who has just made one ODI appearance to date, but showed his star-quality, averaging 49 for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League.

They without doubt need some extra steel and power in the batting department, and could afford to go into this one a seamer light.

The Australians also have to decide where skipper Tim Paine bats. There is a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, from a leadership perspective, to transform Australia in all forms but his batting isn’t up to scratch for him to merit the No5 role.

A poorly-executed reverse-sweep saw Moeen Ali claim his wicket and only served to give more credence to the argument of promoting Maxwell, a decision coach Ricky Ponting could well be involved in.

This indeed would be a smart move as the tail have struggled to offer much resistance and Maxwell can attack in the middle overs.

Justin Langer does though need to find out a way to get the best out of Paine.

England need to guard against complacency

England made hard work of their run chase in the opening ODI, when in truth, it should have been a doddle given their talent and depth of batting.

The pitch was true and possessed no such demons and while Australia’s pace trio Billy Stanlake, Andrew Tye and Michael Neser deserve credit, losing three wickets for 10 runs to slip to 163-6 could have been avoided.

Aggressive cricket has transformed Trevor Bayliss’ outfit but there were a few below-par shots and even when Moeen Ali was at the crease, he failed to show composure with the willow when batting out the equation of 18 runs to win from 69 balls was all that was needed.

Fortunately, David Willey – who produced arguably his best ODI knock to date of 35 not out – saw the hosts over the line but there were some warning signs that the Three Lions can’t afford frequent dips like that.

When Chris Woakes is fit and firing, he is a man that can knit together the lower middle-order and tail and help ensure that England don’t make hectic work of a rather simple equation.

History doesn’t favour the tourists

Whilst the venue of Sophia Gardens is traditionally not one of England’s heralded grounds, mainly because it sits outside of the country but within the England and Wales Cricket Board’s catchment area, Australia have endured a wretched record there down the years.

The Australians have lost four out of five ODI clashes at the venue – inclusive of a five-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in 2005 – while England also won the 2015 Ashes Test at the venue by 169 runs and before that, in 2009, famously batted out a draw. On both occasions, they went on to win the Urn.

They also lost their one and only T20 contest there in 2015.

To get back into this series, the visitors will need a change in luck and will be planning to stop England from securing a sixth ODI victory in seven matches against the old enemy.