England Under-19s have reason to believe they can pull off a series win when they play the first of five youth one-day international games against Australia on Monday.
Coach Andy Hurry’s side head into the match buoyed by their battling performance in the one-off Test in Perth last week.
After conceding a 283-run first-innings lead they showed plenty of grit and determination, led by Haseeb Hameed’s unbeaten 91, to not only edge ahead but give themselves an outside hope of victory until rain washed away the final day.
It has set the stage for the ODI series, which begins in the sea-side city of Bunbury, a couple of hours drive south of Perth.
“The team morale is high,” Lancashire batsman Hameed told ecb.co.uk.
“Obviously it was slightly disappointing not to get out there (on the final day of the Test) but we’re looking forward to the ODI series, to get to Bunbury and a change of venue and we’re expecting a good crowd there as well so the lads are really relishing the challenge and we’re looking forward to it.
“Obviously white-ball and 50-over cricket is a different game altogether so personally having to bat all day was a challenge itself and 50 overs will be another challenge.”
Hurry, who is head of the England Development Programme, is expecting his players to be given a stern test by an Australian side who have played with the same type of aggression that led their senior team to the World Cup title last month.
“It’s been really interesting to see how they’ve approached the Test match action and watching them in the warm-up game, they play like the senior side so from a batting perspective they look to be very positive, controlled but very positive and looking to take the game forward,” he said.
“I expect them to come hard at us with the bat like the senior team do and it seems to be a mantra that the Australians have through their teams.”
Hurry has also been impressed by the variety of Australia’s attack who have been working under former England bowling coach Troy Cooley.
“They have some good skills with the ball as well, they have a couple of spinners playing for them and showed excellent control – it will be interesting to see their variations with the white ball – and their seam bowling attack is strong, they have good pace and variation with a left-armer and it will be interesting to see again how Troy Cooley has been working with them,” he said.
“Its going to be really competitive, its going to be another really good, stiff challenge and that’s one of the reasons why we’re here; you can look at easy options but we wanted to put these guys under pressure to really stretch their learning and give them opportunities and experiences they certainly can’t have back at their counties.”