Aussies Bat Doherty Ahead of Hauritz for First ODI

Melbourne: Australia have named left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty ahead of off-spinner Nathan Hauritz in the team for the first of seven one-day internationals against England.

Sunday's ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground will be Australia's last before the Jan. 19 deadline by which teams must name their final 15 for the World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Doug Bollinger, Brett Lee and Shaun Tait will form the pace attack with Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle sitting out.

The specter of the World Cup will have a massive bearing on not only the seven-match series, but this clash in particular.

Both Australia and England are required to name their 15-man World Cup squads on Tuesday, meaning this clash is the final chance for hopefuls to push for selection.

Australia named their final XI on Saturday with Xavier Doherty preferred as the spinner to Nathan Hauritz, though selector Greg Chappell said it wouldn't necessarily mean the Tasmanian was on the plane.

Mitchell Johnson has earned a rest, with Doug Bollinger, Shaun Tait and Brett Lee forming the pace attack in Melbourne.

Lee and Tait have both been at World Cups before, but it will be interesting to see if selectors decide to stack a side full of strike-weapons for the traditionally slow and low sub-continent tracks.

Of the batsmen/all-rounders, David Hussey and Steven Smith appear to have the most to play for.

With Ponting a certain starter for the World Cup, Hussey and Smith may well be pushing for one available spot.

Smith, who has been a part of the Test set-up in Australia's 3-1 Ashes series loss, is another who can bowl leg-spin and provided useful value with the bat.

But the selection issues are not just restricted to Australia, with England facing a conundrum surrounding Paul Collingwood.

Highly-rated in the English set-up, Collingwood has been starved for runs on this tour, in stark comparison to the players he is in the mix against for a spot in the 11.

Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and the returning Kevin Pietersen means there is a squeeze for positions in the batting order.

England have two players Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, who will not play in Melbourne, but are certainties for the World Cup.

That means there will be players donning the Blue who will taste disappointment on Tuesday, something Strauss admits isn't the ideal situation.

Going by the world rankings, Australia should go into the series as slight favourites, but England's recent form, especially through the Ashes, makes it an even-money bet.

Recent history doesn't help us much either with the last two series between the countries, both played in England resulting in one win each.

On a day where we'll be reflecting on the past, what happens at the MCG will tell us so much about the foreseeable future.

Teams from

Australia Michael Clarke (capt), Cameron White, Doug Bollinger, Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Shane Tait, Shane Watson

England Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Paul Collingwood, Steve Davies (wk), Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Keven Pietersen, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy

Stats and trivia

• England haven't lost a one-day series since being beaten 6-1 by Australia after the 2009 Ashes. In that time they've beaten South Africa, Bangladesh (twice), Australia and Pakistan.
• The two teams have met 20 times at the MCG with Australia ahead 13-6 with one abandonment, although the most recent fixture was a win for England in 2007 when they took a 1-0 lead in CB Series finals.
• Andrew Strauss scored 806 runs at 57.57 from 14 matches in 2010.
• In the last series in 2009 between the two teams Shaun Tait returned for the last three matches and took eight wickets at 12.37.

Match facts
Sunday January 16, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 14:20 local (03:20 GMT)