TWO warm-up games into the tour of England and Australia has produced two century makers but failed to top 300 as new coach Justin Langer continues to look for some one-day mojo.
Travis Head opened the innings against Middlesex at Lords on Saturday and carved out 106 off 141 balls to follow Marcus Stoinis who was rested for the game following his the triple-figure effort at Hove on Thursday which helped Australia reach 277.
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Vice-captain Aaron Finch also notched up his second straight half century, making 54, but was also one of only two Australian batsmen to hit a six despite the offering of a very small side-on boundary at the home of cricket.
Shaun Marsh, in for his first game of the tour, made 49 but Glenn Maxwell made only three, having scored just one against Sussex two days prior, and Australia’s total of 6-283 left lots of room for improvement.
The Aussies have won just two of the past 10 ODIs and face number one ranked England in a five-game series starting on Wednesday at The Oval minus the two biggest run scorers of the past five years in banned duo Steve Smith and David Warner.
D’Arcy Short has filled the opening slot in the two games in England so far and his 18 at Lords, off just 12 balls, could have been much more if not for a brilliant catch at mid-wicket by Nick Sowter.
But procrastination during the middle overs continues to be an issue for Langer’s men and the Australians were also bogged down by the three spinners Middlesex used.
Part-time spinner Max Holden, who is only 20 and playing just his second season of county cricket, went for just 29 runs in his 10-over spell bowled and bowling in tandem with left-armer Ravi Patel, conceded just 17 runs in a six overs early in the Aussie innings.
Australia left out spinner Nathan Lyon again, and the Test star is yet to play a warm-up match, with Ashton Agar picked ahead of him.
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