England Keen Move One More Step to Whitewash

London: Australia all-rounder Shane Watson says the fact the world champions are 3-0 down in the one-day series against England is unpalatable but unsurprising as far as he is concerned.

Ashes holders England, who beat Australia in last month's World Twenty20 final, will move closer to a clean-sweep of the five-match series if they win the fourth of five one-dayers at the Oval here on Wednesday.

It's all a far cry from last year's 6-1 drubbing by Australia but opening batsman Watson, who with two fifties in the series so far has succeeded where many of his top order colleagues have failed, said England were a much changed side from 12 months ago.

"At the moment there is no doubt that they are in form and playing very good cricket," the 29-year-old Watson said at The Oval on Wednesday.

Their bowlers are bowling well and their batsmen are doing a good job. There's no doubt they are in the top echelons of world cricket and it only looks like it's going to continue to develop their improvement.

Australia have arrived in England without injured quicks Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus. But it is the batting that has let Australia down so far this series.

Shaun Tait's return to 50-over action was unmissable. He hadn't featured in the format since February 2009, but from the moment he detonated Craig Kieswetter's middle stump in the first over of the run-chase, England had no option but to treat his missiles with utter respect.

Ricky Ponting used him brilliantly, in shockingly quick two-over bursts, and each of his three wickets came in the first over of a new spell. He could be wild and woolly, and some his wides barely touched the cut strip, but when he got it right, his 95mph pace was too hot to handle.

Kevin Pietersen has been subdued without looking out of form in the series to date. Some of his strokeplay has been out of this world, but scores of 29, 33 and 25 speak of a job half done. KP has been a second-fiddle in most of his innings to date, to Eoin Morgan at the Rose Bowl and Andrew Strauss at Old Trafford.

Team news

England's spare parts have been continuing their exodus to the shires, with Ian Bell and Ajmal Shahzad loaned out to the Lions for their game against West Indies. Another sign that an unchanged team is in prospect.

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 Shaun Marsh had been touted for a call-up to inject some new life into a misfiring batting line-up, but the signs are that Australia intend to stick to the men who've got them into this pickle in the first place.

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
England's heat-wave is set to continue, despite a brief shower on Tuesday that coincided, according to a certain tabloid, with the footballers' return from South Africa.

Stats and trivia

• England's run of three ODI wins in a row equals their best in recent times against Australia - their improbable revival under Andrew Flintoff during the CB Series in 2006-07. But they've still got a way to go to better the five in a row they achieved between 1995 and 1999, a run that included another 3-0 home scoreline in the 1997 Texaco Trophy.
• England have won 17 of their 31 ODIs at The Oval, but it's not been their happiest hunting ground of late.
• England have won just two of their last eight fixtures, one against Bangladesh in 2005, and another against South Africa in 2008 at Lords.

Match facts
June 30, 2010, The Oval
Start time 13:00 local (12:00 GMT)