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The tour has a touch of an old school throwback about it.<\/p>\n
It is slightly rare in the modern era for a touring team to mix white ball and red ball.<\/p>\n
Unlike bygone Australian summers when an ODI tri-series and one, or maybe a few, T20s would follow, or be intertwined with, a Test series, England\u2019s white ball squad will hit these shores in November, a year after their Test counterparts did so for the Ashes.<\/p>\n
So, there is something nostalgic about two nations giving their fans the chance to ready themselves for the main course with some tasty appetisers.<\/p>\n
Especially because in almost a year\u2019s time those appetisers will become the main course.<\/p>\n
Australian batsman Pat Cummins (R) is congratulated by teammate Mitchell Starc after hitting the winning run during the first one-day International (ODI) cricket match between Australia and Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne on November 4, 2024. (Photo by William WEST \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Australia certainly wants to win in South Africa after the embarrassment of Sandpapergate when it last visited the Rainbow Nation for Test matches.<\/p>\n
Pat Cummins\u2019 men definitely want to win Test series in India and England for the first time in more than two decades, as well as a second World Test Championship final, too.<\/p>\n
But they also really badly want to defend the World Cup crown they so famously won in Ahmedabad three years ago.<\/p>\n
Australia has already played six ODIs this year, but the preparation for next October and November\u2019s global showpiece in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia truly starts now with Australia\u2019s selectors set to name its next ODI squad early next week.<\/p>\n
The slow, low and spinning surfaces of Pakistan and Bangladesh are foreign to what they expect to be confronted with in Southern Africa \u2013 where they are several questions to be answered before the World Cup campaign begins.<\/p>\n
Hussey backs under-fire star in batting | 02:48<\/p>\n
WHO FILLS THE STEVE SMITH-SIZED HOLE?<\/p>\n
Barring injury or a dramatic drop off in form, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh will open the batting together in the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Head, who smashed an unforgettable century in the 2023 final against India, has not played an ODI since last year due to workload management but there is no question about his place in the side.<\/p>\n
Since coming back from a broke hand midway through the World Cup three years ago, the left hander has smashed four ODI tons in 21 innings and averaged 49.63 and operated at a blistering strike rate of 122.46.<\/p>\n
Marsh, meanwhile, moved up to open regularly from No.3 after David Warner\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n
He has also been essentially the team\u2019s full-time skipper with Cummins appearing infrequently in 50-over cricket.<\/p>\n
The added responsibility has proven no burden as Marsh was recently named Australia\u2019s ODI player of the year.<\/p>\n
Like Head, he has not played an ODI this year, but in 2025, Marsh plundered 304 runs at 60.80, including a century against South Africa in a run fest where Head and Cameron Green also smashed hundreds.<\/p>\n
Travis Head of Australia celebrates with Mitchell Marsh his century during game three of the One Day International Series between Australia and South Africa at Great Barrier Reef Arena on August 24, 2025 in Mackay, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Where things get interesting is the No.3 position.<\/p>\n
Since Steve Smith retired following last year\u2019s Champions Trophy semi-final defeat to India, Australia has trialled Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Matt Short, Josh Inglis and Matt Renshaw at first drop, in only 12 matches.<\/p>\n
Labuschagne and Short had fallen out of favour earlier this year, only for injuries leading to them given a reprieve in the subcontinent.<\/p>\n
Renshaw may be on the chopping block too, despite his recall to the Test side, having been dismissed for 0, 0 and 2 in Bangladesh after scores of 4, 43, and 61 in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
While Inglis captained the team in Pakistan and Bangladesh and is a walk-up starter with the gloves.<\/p>\n
And Green is a certainty too with a career average of 41.13 from 37 ODIs that puts him only behind Head (43.57) among current players. <\/p>\n
But another name might be about to be added to the No.3 merry-go-round.<\/p>\n
Cooper Connolly scored his maiden ODI century in Australia\u2019s most recent outing in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old\u2019s match-winning 149 from 134 balls came off the back of a breakout IPL campaign for the Ricky Ponting coached Punjab Kings.<\/p>\n
Australia’s Cooper Connolly celebrates after scoring a century (100 runs) during the third one-day international (ODI) cricket match between Bangladesh and Australia at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on June 14, 2026. (Photo by Munir UZ ZAMAN \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
It also came from the top of the order in Marsh and Head\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n
But the star duo\u2019s likely return might mean Connolly slides down a place or makes his home in the middle order.<\/p>\n
Former Australian captain Alyssa Healy believes the West Australian\u2019s emergence on the international white-ball scene may even propel him back into Test calculations.<\/p>\n
\u201cCooper probably springs to mind as a young player that\u2019s making his way on the scene,\u201d Healy told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think, you know, there\u2019s a real possibility that if he has some really good white-ball cricket under his belt in the middle order, that, you know, that Test selection might look a little bit more enticing as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can add that left-arm spin option to that side as a batting and bowling all-rounder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or Australia\u2019s selectors could look to one of the nation\u2019s forgotten men in New South Wales\u2019 Kurtis Patterson.<\/p>\n
Kurtis Patterson of New South Wales celebrates after scoring 100 runs during the One Day Cup match between New South Wales and South Australia at Cricket Central, on February 10, 2026, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old, who scored 114 not out against Sri Lanka in Canberra in 2019 but has never played for Australia again, is keen to add to his two Test caps.<\/p>\n
But he may also provide a good option in an ODI cricket after a prolific campaign that guided NSW to the Dean Jones Trophy last summer.<\/p>\n
Patterson had the best average of any of the Sheffield Shield\u2019s top ten leading run scores and he dominated the 50-over competition.<\/p>\n
The left-hander amassed 565 runs at 113 with a strike rate of 96.58, including three centuries and three fifties in eight innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve certainly turned a corner and got a lot more consistent with how I bat,\u201d Patterson told Fox Sports News earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been some results that have followed that, which is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy batting feels like it\u2019s in a nice place,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
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