English cricketer Jonny Bairstow believes England can retain the top-ranked ODI position during the upcoming five-match home ODI series against Australia, starting from June 13.
On last Sunday, the no.1 ODI ranked team England suffered a stunning 6-run defeat against the associate member Scotland at Edinburgh. After that defeat, their top-ranked position in the ODI ranking has come under serious threat.
While their abilities have come under scrutiny, 28-year-old Bairstow said that they are able to maintain the top-ranked level and that defeat was just a part of the game.
Bairstow said on that, “It’s part and parcel of the game. You get to number one and people are going to want to beat you, but you want to be number one in the world. We set our stall out to be number one in the world and that’s where we are, whether we were number one in this game or not, Scotland would still be delighted to win, it’s not just because we are number one.”
Despite Australia will miss their many dependable regular players in the upcoming series on the England soil, Bairstow and English team are in no mood to taking lightly them.
The in-form English batsman said, “It’s a completely different challenge and a completely different team that we will be playing. It’s a team that has a lot of new guys in, without Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, Warner, Smith, so there are guys wanting to compete for places and we know just how dangerous that can be when people are pushing for a permanent place.”
In the meantime, Australian left-arm spinner Ashton Agar feels happy on England’s recent ODI defeat against Scotland. Besides that, the 24-year-old also believes that the English team is a dangerous side.
Agar said, “It’s great England didn’t win (on Sunday) because you always like to start with a win. In the end, England didn’t really finish the job.
“They’re a really dangerous side, though, and you can’t ever take a side like that lightly. We need to bring our A-game and be ready to go.”
While Australian cricketer David Warner is currently suspended from the cricket, he will join the commentary team of Australian broadcaster Channel Nine from the second ODI of the upcoming five-match ODI series against the hosts England.
Agar feels happy for that as he quoted, “Personally I think it’s a great thing for him to be back around cricket. He would have been hurt, and his family too. So for him to be back around the game he loves will be important.”
