The fourth game of the seven ODI series between Australia and England will be again played at Lord's and it assumes proportions of a must-win match for the hosts. With the Aussies leading 3-0 and gunning for a 7-0 whitewash, it remains to be seen whether the England side will look to ring in the changes or try and maintain the same side for the time being.

England's biggest is the batting at the top. Despite having played an innings or two of substance at the top, both the openers, Andrew Strauss and Ravi Bopara have yet to set the stands on fire, and it is a reasonable possibility that there will be a change at the top. Then again, it is a surprise that Jonathon Trott has not yet made it to the playing eleven despite being one of the county circuit's biggest hitters, and a century scorer on his Ashes debut at Oval.

From their bowling perspective, there is not much that could be pointed on the lack of effort, but the problem is that the penetration hasn't looked like being present. Probably, England need to go back to getting some assistance from the pitch, where the ball turns around a bit, and Graeme Swann comes into play a lot more than he has so far.

Australia has suddenly seemed to crack the code. They looked done and dusted in the test matches, but in the ODIs, they have come out strongly and done their best to knock their opposition around. The batting in the middle order has been excellent and the youngsters have taken up the onus well on themselves. It will definitely get interesting when Ricky Ponting comes back as a captain for this game; what with Clarke having yet to lose the game! With the pressure having already had the better of Ponting in the T20 format, a loss here would ensure that the tongues start wagging again against Ponting. How he responds back would be the thing to look out for.

Mitchell Johnson has returned back to form with a big bang. He was the man of the match in the second game, and bowled reasonably well in the previous game too. All of a sudden he will be a dangerous proposition, so much so that the English openers will need to show some more respect against him than Brett Lee. Lee has done reasonably well so far, but he could do well with his economy, which is raging in the high five plus runs per over. The back up support has been good, and England will need to find out ways to take them on. Or bear the brunt of going down 0-4!

Tag :- Andrew Strauss   Australia   England   Graeme Swann   Jonathon Trott   Mitchell Johnson   Ravi Bopara   Ricky Ponting