Australia Looks to finish on a high

Adelaide: Australia will be looking to finish its One-Day International series against Pakistan with yet another win as the teams lock horns in the fifth and final game at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

Having taken an unassailable 3-1 lead after a massive 86-run victory in Sydney on Sunday, Australia will be keen not to let complacency trickle into the ranks.

It might be a dead-rubber contest, but as Glenn Maxwell pointed out on the eve of the encounter, it will be a crucial platform for those looking to make a mark ahead of the side's upcoming three-match ODI series in New Zealand and a four-Test tour of India next month.

It being a public holiday, a large crowd is expected to turn up at the Adelaide Oval, which has been reinstated as the venue for the once-traditional Australia Day ODI for the first time in three years.

Australia has lost just one one-dayer – a six-wicket defeat in the second ODI – since its 5-0 defeat at the hands of South Africa last year, but Maxwell insisted that the host needed to keep up the good work.

Billy Stanlake has not travelled to Adelaide and instead will fly to New Zealand with Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh a day ahead of the rest of the Chappell-Hadlee squad. That means Australia are choosing from a squad of 13, and an unchanged XI from their win in Sydney is feasible.

Pakistan, meanwhile, will want a better all-round performance. Dropped catches have hurt the team and that will be something it will look to address. In the last match in Sydney, Sharjeel Khan smashed 74 off 47 deliveries to be the pick of the batsmen. The visiting side will want more of that kind of aggression and hope the top and middle-order click in tandem. 

The team lost the Test series 3-0, and has conceded the ODI series as well, despite the win in the second match. It will be keen for a consolation win to end the tour on a better note.

The curator is likely to lay out a traditional batting-friendly track in Adelaide, and weather-wise, it is expected to a be a bright, sunny day, with the temperature ranging between 22 and 28°C during the contest.

Teams:

Australia announce XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Billy Stanlake.

Pakistan (from): Azhar Ali (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Rahat Ali, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz.

Pitch and conditions
The forecast for Thursday is for a sunny day with a top temperature of 30 degrees Celsius.

Stats and trivia

• Adelaide Oval in the past six years, they have played seven ODIs there and won only three.
• Glenn Maxwell needs 76 runs to reach 2000 in ODIs.

Match facts
Thursday January 26, 2017 (d/n)
Start time 1350 local (0320 GMT)