Australia will be facing New Zealand in three ODIs on the back of 3-0 drubbing in South Africa.
Australia are all set to host New Zealand in a three-match ODI series, starting March 13 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
On the eve of the first ODI, skipper Aaron Finch addressed the press conference and spoke about Australia’s playing combination.
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Although the Aussies are yet to finalise their XI, Finch expects speedsters Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc to return to the starting side.
During the recently held ODI series in South Africa, Cummins was rested in the third and final game while Starc missed the same match as he flew home to watch his wife Alyssa Healy play in Women's T20 World Cup final against India.
Both are expected to return on their home turf at SCG, where Australia will look to get back to winning ways after coping a 3-0 ODI whitewash in South Africa.
Asked to evaluate Australia’s performance against the Proteas, Finch refused to blame the bowlers and instead took the responsibility as one of the top batters in the side.
"At the end of the day it comes down to the top three and as experienced players – myself, Davey and Steve – haven’t got as many runs as what we should have," Finch told reporters on Thursday (March 12).
"That's where the buck stops. You look at our bowling it's been pretty good. It's been excellent in the powerplay.
"Like most teams around the world, wickets in the middle overs are hard to come by. The teams that take them tend to win a lot more games.
"That's an area we're focusing on and taking that next step from that 260-280 total to really push up and get match-winning totals on the board."
Having scored his maiden ODI ton against South Africa, Marnus Labuschagne seems to have cemented his spot at No.4. Even though Mitchell Marsh, D'Arcy Short and Alex Carey failed to impress in the lower middle-order, the trio are likely to continue.
"We're keen to give them as long as possible," Finch said.
"If you look at our last 20 games that middle order combination hasn't been very stable.
"The fact they haven't played a huge amount of cricket with each other in terms of batting partnerships and just getting to know each other's games a lot better through playing in pressure moments, that will improve as they bat more together.
"At the end the of the day you still need results. You give guys as long as they can to find that balance of forming good partnerships and strong relationships out in the middle.
"But like I said, the top order, we're the ones that need to step up."
Australia will need overs out of Marsh, Short and Labuschagne if they don’t go with five specialist bowlers. But what Finch wants is wickets through the middle overs.
"The role Mitch, Marnus and D'Arcy can do as that fifth bowler combination is going to be important for the balance of the side," said Finch.
"It's always tough when you don't get wickets through that middle period.
"Our powerplay bowling has been outstanding for the last series (against the Proteas), we took wickets up front, managed to get in their middle order and couldn't finish them off at certain times.
"The fifth bowler, I think teams around the world would find when you go in with an allrounder at No.6 and a couple of part-timers to chip in for that role it can be difficult managing that at times but we've got a lot of confidence in Mitch's bowling along with D'Arcy and Marnus."
Possible Australia XI for first ODI:
Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, D'Arcy Short, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
(Inputs from cricket.com.au)