Aussies Looks to Halt England Record in T20

Adelaide: Australia will be out to stop England posting a world record eight consecutive Twenty20 victories in the game's shortest format when the two sides meet at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night in the first of two matches.

The T20 world champions' winning streak dates back to the Word Cup final in the Caribbean in May, where they beat Australia by seven wickets and Cameron White, who will captain Australia for the first time, admitted he was unaware of the pending record.

With T20 and Test cricket at opposite ends on the cricket scale and Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson and Steven Smith the only members of the squad that was a part of the Ashes humiliation, White said the two-match series will offer Australia a fresh start after an embarrassing summer.

There are only two or three guys who were involved in the Test matches so it's really a fresh start for us. Hopefully a change of format and a change of luck and we go out and play the way we know we can play in Twenty20 which has been pretty in the last 10 or 12 games.

At the end of the day we'll go out there and try and watch the ball and play as well as we can as individuals and hopefully that gets a good result.

White admitted England will again provide a formidable opponent especially given their stunning run of form.

England all-rounder Michael Yardy took 3-33 in the hit out against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra on Monday and said the visitors will be gunning for the record.

I think one thing this team is about is breaking records and achieving things and this is another opportunity to do that and another win tomorrow night will give us the opportunity to get that world record.

Yardy played down England's favourite's tag, admitting he considers Australia to be among the best teams in ODI cricket.

He also denied Australia will be vulnerable after a horror Ashes series.

Teams from

Australia Cameron White (captain), Tim Paine (vice-capt & wk), Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Stephen O’Keefe, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Shaun Tait, David Warner, Shane Watson

England Paul Collingwood (captain), Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Steven Davies (wkt), Steve Finn, Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy

Stats and trivia

• England will set a new world record of eight consecutive victories if they are successful in Adelaide.
• These two teams have only played once previously in Australia, at Sydney in 2006-07. The home side inflicted a thumping 77-run defeat. Cameron White, the new captain, hit 40 off 20 balls to take the Man-of-the-Match award on his Twenty20 debut.

Match facts
Wednesday January 12, 2010 (day/night)
Start time 19:05 local (08:35 GMT)