Confident England Target Series Win Against Australia

Manchester: Tim Bresnan has told his England team-mates to maintain the standard they've set for themselves when they face Australia in the third of five one-day internationals on Sunday.

England are 2-0 up against the world champions and victory at Old Trafford would give them an unbeatable lead.

But Bresnan, a member of the England team that beat Australia in last month's World Twenty20 final in Barbados last month, told reporters here on Saturday: "We haven't achieved anything yet. We've still got a lot of hard work to do."

The Yorkshire seamer added: "There's three games left and we'd like to wrap it up in style.

There's a lot of confidence about, the guys are playing well, dovetailing quite nicely and that's how you win cricket matches as a team.  We're looking to improve every day and as long as we keep doing that we should win more than we lose.

But with England holding the Ashes, as well as the World Twenty20, Bresnan knows Australia will be desperate to avoid losing a one-day series to their oldest rivals as well.

"They're definitely going to come hard at us tomorrow," he said. "We've obviously played some good cricket, stopped them playing as well as they can.

That's what we set out to do and we've done that well. All we need to do is do that for another three games and hopefully we'll get a positive result.

Bresnan was doubtful for this series with a foot injury but insisted he was now completely fit.

England have looked sharp in the field with captain Andrew Strauss enjoying a tactical triumph in Thursday's four-wicket win in Cardiff when Michael Clarke was caught at short leg just a few balls after Graeme Swann was stationed there.

It was just inspirational captaincy - and that's what Straussy brings," Bresnan said. "He's done unbelievably in the last two games, and I'm sure he'll continue to do that.

Team news

England No need to tinker for England, and no likelihood that they will do so either, especially seeing as Ryan Sidebottom and Ian Bell were released to play for their counties on Friday.

Squad from Andrew Strauss (C), Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Michael Yardy, James Anderson, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Craig Kieswetter (WK), Ajmal Shahzad

Australia No changes are anticipated to Australia's top six, who have acquitted themselves well without quite kicking on to the impregnable totals needed against England's powerful line-up.

Squad from Ricky Ponting (C), Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Steven Smith, James Hopes, Ryan Harris, Clint McKay, Doug Bollinger, Tim Paine (WK), Josh Hazlewood, Shaun Tait

Pitch and conditions
Old Trafford didn't quite live up to expectations during the recent Test against Bangladesh, but there's enough life in the surface for all the quicks to enjoy themselves, and for the spinners to obtain that extra bounce that makes the difference to their impact. The weather is expected to be glorious once again, so it's another win-toss-and-bat scenario.

Stats and trivia

• England have now won seven ODIs in a row, their best performance in 50-over cricket since 1997-98, when they beat Australia 3-0 in the Texaco Trophy, before Adam Hollioake's men stormed the desert in Sharjah.
• There have been 37 ODIs at Old Trafford, dating back to 1972, but England's recent record on the ground is indifferent. Though they won their most recent fixture, against India in 2007, their only other victory since 1996 came against Zimbabwe in 2000.
• At Cardiff, Paul Collingwood became England's leading run-maker in ODI history, surpassing Alec Stewart's tally of 4677, and finishing the match on 4693. That figure, however, places him a lowly 62nd on the all-time list.

Match facts
June 27, 2010
Start time 10:45 local (9:45 GMT)