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Australia clear favourites ahead of 2nd ODI at Hobart

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http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 clear favourites ahead of 2nd ODI at Hobart
Australia defeated England in the first match of the 7-match One Day International (ODI) series in Melbourne thanks to a fantastic unbeaten innings from Shane Watson.
The 2nd ODI is going to be played at Hobart on Friday with England facing majority of the problems. Andrew Strauss is definitely going to miss his three major bowlers in the shape of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann.
It was the English bowling, which proved to be the weak link in the first ODI, as they were not able to defend a huge total.
Hobart is usually a batting paradise but fast bowlers are able to get some movement there with sea breeze around.
Hobart usually holds day games but the 2nd ODI between Australia and England is going to be a day/night affair, which makes it interesting to see how the ball behaves, under lights.
Australia is expected to make a couple of changes to its previous line-up as Shaun Marsh is going to replace the injured Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz is going to make a comeback in the Aussie ranks replacing Xavier Doherty.
Australia’s bowling line-up looks much stronger with the induction of Brett Lee and Shaun Tate and looks a formidable unit in the limited overs format of the game unlike Test cricket.
However, Australia’s real strength is its batting line-up which is led by Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 at the top of the order.
Watson proved in the 1st ODI that he has become one of the most destructive top order batsmen of modern times after the retirement of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Gilchrist-c918 and Mathew Hayden. The only concern in the Australian management would be the form of Michael
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 as he is leading the Kangaroos in the ODI series in the absence of Ricky Ponting and it is imperative for him to perform, being the leader of the team.
On the other side of the coin, the bad news for England is that it has lost the services of their main bowler in the shape of Graeme Swann, who has been ruled out of the ODI series because of a knee injury.
England is already without James Anderson and Stuart Broad and the weakness in the bowling department was quite evident in the 1st ODI.
Andrew Strauss would be expecting that Chris Tremlett and Michael Yardy step up a gear and take up the responsibility on their shoulders in the absence of senior bowlers.
England posted a huge score in the 1st ODI but their bowlers failed to defend that, so the best option for Andrew Strauss would be to win the toss and bowl first this time so that they can chase down the score with a stronger batting line-up.
Australia is the clear favourite in the 7-match ODI series even without Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey.
The induction of Nathan Hauritz is definitely going to give a boost to the Australian bowling attack with the sort of international experience he has.
At last some sense has prevailed among the Australian selectors as Xavier Doherty has failed to make any kind of an impression on the English batsmen throughout the tour.
 

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