England decided to bowl against Australia
Both Pat Cummins and Jos Buttler returned for the final ODI at a scarcely populated MCG as Australia looked to close out a 3-0 series victory.
The pair had been rested in Sydney with Josh Hazlewood leading the home side and Moeen Ali captaining England. Cummins returned in place of Mitchell Starc who had remained in Sydney while Sean Abbott was recalled for Ashton Agar after he left to join the Prime Minister’s XI squad in Canberra.
Alongside Buttler, England brought back quick bowler Olly Stone as they left out Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. The surface was expected to offer some help to the quicks on a cool, overcast day.
There was a brief shower before the toss but the hope was that the rain would largely stay away, although there is a chance of a further brief shower blowing through. The weather is cool with a maximum of just 17 degrees expected. However, the match had barely attracted local interest with just a smattering of spectators around the huge venue when the first ball was bowled.
Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Alex Carey (wk), 6 Mitch Marsh, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood
England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 James Vince, 5 Sam Billings, 6 Jos Buttler (capt, wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Liam Dawson, 10 David Willey, 11 Olly Stone