Although England lost 6-1, Swann said that victories over Sri Lanka and South Africa in Champions Trophy have convinced a squad expecting to return home at the earliest opportunity that it is good enough to win a huge event.
It would be a different ball at centurion on Friday as the England is high on their self-belief and skipper Andrew Strauss is ready and raring to go.
English camp is bubbling with hope that when they can beat teams like South Africa and Sri Lanka, why not Australia?
The confidence in the English camp is evident from the fact that spinner Swann declaring, ‘You are only as good as your last game and we trounced them at Chester-le-Street. I think we have a hold on them, if anything.’
Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, sees things rather differently. ‘In a way you wipe the slate clean because conditions are different over here, but I would rather have won that series 6-1 than lost it 6-1, he said.
‘We know their strengths and weaknesses and were able to exploit them. It is a matter of doing that again.’
Strauss pledged that England will continue to attack with the bat and use their performance against South Africa as a template. Swann said:
Australia’s major worry has been their batting. They almost faulted searching a low-score last night. Ponting is hopeful that his boys would pull up their socks and come out with a good performance.
‘Having played seven ODIs just last month and won six of them in a row, we are confident and upbeat’.
With Shane Watson not producing runs and Paine running through mixed fortunes in the tournament, Ponting hopes thing would come well on Friday.
England would be hoping for a spirited performance by their top-order batsmen complimented well by their seam bowlers.
Teams
Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (wk) Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White.
England: Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wk), Adil Rashid, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.
