England vs. India ODI Tri Series: Date, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview
England and India will go head-to-head at the WACA knowing the winner will face Australia in Sunday's Tri-Series final and receive a significant confidence boost ahead of the 2015 World Cup.
However, the loser will be back to the drawing board with the ICC's showpiece tournament just two weeks away.
Let's take a look as to how both sides are shaping up ahead of this crunch clash.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Venue: Western Australia Cricket Ground, Perth
Date: Friday, Jan. 30, 2015
Start time: 11:20 p.m. local time/3:20 a.m. GMT
Weather: According to the BBC, while predictably hot—peaks of 35 degrees Centigrade are expected—there is a threat of showers with thunderstorms possible late in the afternoon.
Live stream: Sky Go (UK)
TV Info: Sky Sports 2 (UK), Fox Sports (Australia), Sky Sport (New Zealand), Star Sports (India), Willow TV (United States and Canada) and more here.
Preview
England may be four places and 2,238 points behind India in the latest ICC ODI rankings, but they will enter this contest, which is essentially a semi-final, in confident mood.
| Played | Won | No result | Points | Run rate | |
| Australia | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 | +0.467 |
| England | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | +0.481 |
| India | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -1.356 |
The sacking of Alastair Cook and subsequent appointment of Eoin Morgan has heralded a new dawn, and despite losing to Australia twice, they've produced some encouraging signs so far.
Ian Bell has flourished at the top of the order, scoring 229 runs so far, while Morgan himself hinted at a long, overdue return to form with a splendid century, albeit in vain, in Sydney, his first in ODIs for almost a year.
Throw in the busy James Taylor, solid-looking Joe Root and the presence of Jos Buttler and Ravi Bopara in "finishing" roles and England have a dangerous looking line-up.
Equally, with the ball Chris Woakes continues to grow at international level while Steven Finn and Jimmy Anderson have looked threatening, particular in Brisbane where they sentenced India to defeat by combining for nine wickets.
In fact, that game summed up India who have looked off the pace and jaded throughout this World Cup warm up—perhaps related to the fact that they have been on tour Down Under since November 22.
Ignoring Rohit Sharma's ton, none of M.S. Dhoni's men has scored more than 73 runs in total with normally reliable figures Shikhar Dhawan and Test skipper Virat Kolhi registering just 27 runs between them from six completed innings.
Even more incredibly, only Umesh Yadav has managed to pick up more than a single wicket overall—he has two— and the team has claimed only seven scalps overall.
On the plus side, several key men, including Rohit and Ishant Sharma and the underrated Ravindra Jadeja, seem set to return from injury, but whether they will be risked before the World Cup remains to be seen.
Where Will the Game Be Won?
The expected pace and bounce at the WACA will have England's attack licking their lips, and the contest between them and India's brittle-looking line-up could be the deciding factor.
Of course, the return of Ishant gives India a weapon of their own so England will have to be wary of that, while the likes of Rohit and Kohli remain crucial wickets with both players capable of scoring runs at a ferocious pace.
What They Are Saying
England's assistant coach Paul Farbrace on espncricinfo:
"The Gabba and WACA are the best two grounds we could have played India on, aren't they?"
Historical Head to head:
Played: 92
England wins: 37
India wins: 50
Draws/No result: 5
Squads
India (from): M.S. Dhoni (c/wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Dhawal Kulkarni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Akshar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ishant Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav
England (from): Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes
ODI Form Lines (most recent first)
India NLLWWWWW
England LWLLLWLW
Players to Watch
India
While it has been something of a stop-start series for India, the return of Rohit Sharma will undoubtedly be a huge boost, and judging by this report on espncricinfo, it sounds like he will be playing.
In his only innings so far, the prodigious strokemaker scored a stunning 138 against the Aussies at Melbourne, and it wasn't too long ago that he shattered the highest individual ODI score world record with this innings.
England
Alastair who? Ian Bell has flourished in the absence of his former skipper to crack 229 runs from just three innings in this competition. What's interesting is that the 32-year-old is by no means a power-orientated batsman and relies on the sort of classical style that some would call out-dated in white-ball cricket.
His partnership with the free-hitting Moeen Ali at the top of the order will be crucial if England are to set or chase a large target.
Prediction
While England deserve a final spot based on their performances so far, bad luck seems to follow their ODI team around. And it would be no surprise to see India produce their only decent performance of the competition and sneak into the final.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
