mvaughan

The ODI format is under threat. We know this because players, journalists and coaches keep saying that and because the ICC continuously tinker with the rules and format of the 50-over game. It's a sign that they're trying hard to better a format that is clearly not perfect and is increasingly coming under scrutiny. We've had Graeme Swann saying he doesn't really enjoy it anymore and Kevin Pietersen retiring from limited-overs international cricket because he didn't want to play it anymore, even though it meant it was the end of his international T20 career as well. Me? I'll be honest when I say that it's my third favourite format. Test cricket is the game in its purest form and a good Test cricketer was what I dreamt of being when I started out many moons ago. And T20 is great, too. ...

There seems to be some rather confused thinking in the Australian camp just now. They lost narrowly in the 1st ODI and might have well have won had Matthew Wade not got run out when he did. Yet that defeat let to wholesale changes. They were obviously unfortunate to have lost Pat Cummins to injury and I've no problem with Mitchell Johnson being brought in but I think they should have stuck with Clint McKay as Brett Lee's new-ball partner. Those loose deliveries and no-balls from Johnson first up put Australia under the cosh from very early on. George Bailey was shifted down the order for the second match, Steve Smith was dropped and all in all there were just too many changes in terms of both tactics and personnel. One thing they need to address is how to play Graeme Swann better. The...

As I've already said in my series preview, this should be a close contest throughout and Lord's should be no exception. For starters it's a wicket that at first glance doesn't favour one side over the other. If the ball was going to swing it may play into the hands of England but then again if it was an absolute belter of a wicket it might have favoured Australia's top order who are arguably bigger hitters than their English counter-parts with the likes of David Warner, Shane Watson and Steve Smith all capable of clearing the boundary rope. Lord's is a good batting track but there are easier places to score runs. England should remain unchanged for this game. They will be desperate to carry on the good work started by Alastair Cook since he took over the ODI captaincy and to win this...

Australia are in town and I have a feeling they will test England harder than anyone else has for a long time on British soil. There are three very good reasons why I say that. First up, they're the number one ranked ODI side in the world so that speaks for itself in terms of their consistency and winning habit. Secondly, English conditions in the middle of the summer aren't too dissimilar to standard conditions in Australia so this will feel far less like an away series for them than it would for say Sri Lanka or India. And thirdly, for the first time in a while we come across a bowling attack who can match England's. People can say what they like about Brett Lee not being as quick as he used to be or that he always seems on the verge of breaking down with some sort of injury. But...

I was pretty sad to hear the news that Ricky Ponting has been dropped from Australia's ODI team for the rest of the Commonwealth Bank series. We're talking about one of the all-time greats here. One of the most prolific batsmen to have played the game, one of the most successful captains ever in all formats . Let's not forget he captained Australia to two World Cups and won another just as a player. And that's before we go into all of his achievements as a Test captain. To be told that you're no longer up to it isn't the way his ODI career should have been ended. But maybe the selectors realised that calling time on his own career was never going to happen and that they had to push him. 'Punter' has called a press conference tomorrow and my gut instinct is that it will mean he'll ...

England blew a fantastic opportunity to get their second win of the ODI Series during the week and on Sunday morning they have one last chance to beat the Aussies. After that, they fly back home and have a grand total of three days in the UK before flying out for the start of the World Cup. Yes, you read that right, three days. Is it any wonder that England have never won the World Cup when more often than not they have to take on the world's best on the back of a long Ashes tour? I know our lads in the army are sometimes away for four month spells - and I have the greatest of respect for them - but sport is a little different. Duncan Fletcher complained about how little recovery time we had in between the 2002-3 and the 2006-7 Ashes Tours and the World Cups but no-one listened. Or at...

It's a shame these last two matches have become dead rubbers now but the truth is England just haven't been at the races for most of this Series. The various injuries obviously haven't helped matters but England haven't really performed at all and have been very guilty of not doing the basics right. More worrying still, almost no-one is in good form and the ones who aren't injured look jaded and like they'd rather be elsewhere. And that's not good for their World Cup chances. Andrew Strauss was heavily criticised for missing the tour of Bangladesh last year and vowed not to sit out England games in the future but in my opinion he didn't need to play the whole ODI series. Other than all of the on-field decision-making there's all the Media stuff and other miscellaneous commitments. You...

It's make or break time for England as far as this ODI Series goes and the last thing they want is to have to play three dead rubbers as a result of losing this one. The absences of Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Graeme Swann through injury have understandably weakened the side but, ironically, it's been their batting that's let them down. Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan have all made starts at one stage or another but none have gone on and scored a century and tonnes win ODI matches. Just look at the impact the hundreds scored by Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh had on proceedings in the first two matches. One of England's top four needs to score a century or else I fear Australia will win yet again. I've talked about who I think should open...

I don't really like being asked to compare this England side with that of other eras. The quality of the opposition changes, the players change, pitches change, the role of technology in the game changes and even the way the game is played is somewhat different. Who would have thought ten or fifteen years ago we'd have Test matches where for large parts of the game batsmen are scoring at [b]four an over[/b] for example? My side of 2005 was an outstanding team full of really talented players and very strong characters. We weren't able to go on and successfully defend the Ashes in 2006-7 because of a number of factors, not least a bad run of injuries. In general terms, we didn't really build on that as many hoped we would after that outstanding 2005 success but it should never be forgotten...