After England squared their one-day series in Australia with a thumping 135-run win at Adelaide, Daily Mail Sport examines the pressing questions ahead of Wednesday’s decider in Hobart – and beyond.
Have England now got their openers for the World Cup?
Ben Duckett has begun this series with a pair of nines, but his last two scores in the tri-series in Pakistan were 105 and 167, and it is hard to see how he misses out in southern Africa next year.
And with Jacob Bethell still recuperating from knee trouble, Tom Banton has risen to the challenge. His sparkling 121 off 99 balls in Adelaide took his record since becoming an ODI opener to 540 runs at 60, with a strike-rate of 110. He, not Bethell, is in pole position.
Will Harry ever make it Down Under?
Australians still can’t understand what all the fuss is about Harry Brook. His riotous strokeplay threatened to make him a figure of fun during last winter’s Ashes, and he began this series with a twitchy waft in Perth, where he was caught behind off Mahli Beardman for a single.
In Adelaide, where a year ago he was bowled attempting an extravagant reverse sweep off Nathan Lyon, he moved across his crease to Riley Meredith and helped a miscued scoop straight on to middle stump.
Out for just five, Brook threw back his head in anguish, but it was the kind of frivolity that doesn’t play well with Australian crowds. He could do with a score at Hobart.
Tom Banton has risen to the challenge in Jacob Bethell’s absence and looks in pole position to open for England at the World Cup
Harry Brook’s struggles continued in Australia with the batsman out for just five in Adelaide
Does Jordan Cox automatically make way when Jos Buttler is finally fit again?
Cox batted with characteristic swagger to make 67 off 49 balls, including an outrageous reverse sweep for four off seamer Xavier Bartlett, played a split second before he landed on both knees. It was the stroke of a player who will look back on 2026 as his breakthrough year.
But there is no room for both him and Buttler, who is still on the mend after hamstring surgery, since that would involve dropping a bowler. For all his talent, Cox may yet be in for a frustrating World Cup.
Is there any way back for Adil Rashid?
England’s best-ever white-ball spinner has now missed their last five ODIs, with Liam Dawson edging into pole position first in Pakistan and now in Australia.
The selectors felt Rashid hadn’t been at his best as he recovered from a hand injury sustained during September’s T20 series against Sri Lanka, but they also want Dawson’s extra batting to allow them to play three specialist quicks down the order, and Brook enjoys Dawson’s experience in the field – even if he did badly drop Cameron Green at deep midwicket seven runs into his eventual 64.
It’s hard to see how both spinners play in the same team, unless England leave out Sam Curran, and push Dawson up a place to No7 – which looks like too lengthy a tail.
And will they leave out Curran?
It was telling that Will Jacks, supposedly tasked with finishing the innings, batted above Curran in Adelaide. At Perth, Curran had been bounced out for a seven-ball duck by Beardman, just the latest example of his struggles against the short stuff. Now down at No7, he was caught on the fence for 14.
Jacks, by contrast, is turning into a significant white-ball cricketer, and followed his 25 in Perth with an effortless unbeaten 54 off 40 balls, helping England to 355 for six, their highest ODI total in Australia.
Increasingly, the management are wondering whether Curran – who has underwhelming ODI batting and bowling averages of 22 and 40 – is not better suited to T20 cricket. He did find himself on a hat-trick, having yorked Jack Edwards with his slower ball, but 9.50 an over made him the game’s most expensive bowler.
Jordan Cox batted with characteristic swagger to make 67 off 49 balls, but will he make way when Jos Buttler is back fit?
England’s seamers will be central to their chances of winning the decider in Hobart
How important is Hobart on Wednesday?
Very. England’s failure to reach the final of the tri-series in Pakistan after throwing away two apparently unlosable matches stalled the 50-over progress they had made in 2026, with series wins over Sri Lanka (twice) and India. But victory here, even against an Australian side fielding a second-string attack, would lift spirits going into the five-match T20 series, starting in Melbourne on Saturday.
Central to their chances will be their frontline seamers. Gus Atkinson dismissed Travis Head cheaply for the second time in three days en route to a career-best four for 28, while Jofra Archer went for just three an over. Sonny Baker, meanwhile, offered more oomph than Jamie Overton had at Perth, and removed Mitchell Marsh for two thanks to a screamer in the slips by Joe Root.
