England favourites to clinch the ODI series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shane-Keith-Warne-c89672 – Cricket News Update
Shane Warne, the legendary leg-spinner, has tipped England as favourites to win the upcoming five-match One Day International (ODI) series against Australia, although he thinks that the absence of Kevin Pietersen is a massive disadvantage for the home team.
The mouth-watering contest begins tomorrow at the Lord’s, with both the teams looking to gain the upper hand before the all-important Ashes 2013. The ODI series will test the strength of both the sides as they have been playing some extra-ordinary cricket
of late.
Warne, who is considered to be one of the best leg-spinners to have ever played the game, understands that both the teams are evenly matched but feels that England will have an edge because of a stronger bowling attack and home conditions.
Since the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 Cricket World Cup 2011 in the sub-continent, the Poms have done quite well in the 50-overs format and have not lost any series at home.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 born cricketer extremely high and thinks that it
is not going to be easy for any batsman to replace him.
“England are clear favourites despite Australia being world No 1. Australia will look at England’s team without Kevin and will feel a lot better bowling to the rest, It’s pretty hard to look past http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013. They’ve won six home one-day series in a row,” Warne
expressed.
The former cricketer is of the opinion that the presence of the hard-hitting batsman would have boosted the morale of other players as well and England will miss his services in the battle against Australia, who are the number one ranked ODI team of the
world.
He added, "Any team that hasn't got Kevin Pietersen is significantly weaker. He's a match-winner so that's a big loss. He rubs off on the rest of the players. So to me it's a huge loss."
Pietersen’s replacement in the ODI squad, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 but whether he can deliver the goods against the world’s number one team remains a big question.
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