Spin will be a major weapon for England as they bowl first at the Brit Oval in today’s first one-day international.
Speaking to interviewers at the toss, England captain Andrew Strauss said he thought there might be a little dampness under the pitch that his attack would be able to exploit.
Perhaps conscious of the role that Graeme Swann played in the final Ashes Test on this ground, England have gone for an attacking combination of five frontline bowlers, including the spin pairing of Swann and Adil Rashid.
The downside is that they have left themselves rather short on batting. The all-rounders start at No 6, with Luke Wright, followed by Stuart Broad at No 7 and then the two spinners.
Perhaps England feel that the versatility of their bowlers will allow them to bat almost all the way down. Only the final pair of batsmen, Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson, can be classed as genuine tailenders.
But the counter-argument would be that 50-over cricket is a demanding form of the game for batsmen, who need to learn how to pace an innings while keeping enough wickets in hand for the slog in the final overs.
If England persist with this short batting line-up throughout the seven-match series, it would be easy to see them being bowled out inside the 50 overs on at least two or three occasions.
Australia have picked a more conventional-looking side with six recognised batsmen, although one of them is Cameron White, who was once better known as a leg-spinner.
In the absence of injured wicketkeeper/opening batsman Brad Haddin they have picked Tasmania’s Tim Paine in the same role.
Meanwhile, England opted not to play football in this morning’s warm-up after the knee injury suffered by Joe Denly yesterday.
Instead they went for a strange-looking game of tag, with individual players trying to avoid team-mates who joined hands and tried to corral them into a corner of the outfield.
England: AJ Strauss (capt), RS Bopara, MJ Prior (wk), OA Shah, PD Collingwood, LJ Wright, SCJ Broad, AU Rashid, GP Swann, JM Anderson, RJ Sidebottom.
Australia: TD Paine (wk), SR Watson, MJ Clarke (capt), CL White, CJ Ferguson, MEK Hussey, JR Hopes, MG Johnson, B Lee, NM Hauritz, NW Bracken.
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