Ashton Agar says Australia must be 'at our absolute best' to avert whitewash
Ashton Agar has said Australia have "no choice" other than to believe they can defeat England in the final ODI at Old Trafford. If England continue their domination of Australia it will be their first whitewash over the old enemy in any format.
But Agar insisted the Australia players weren't feeling pressure to avoid the whitewash and instead were focusing on improving all facets of their game.
"It's going to be tough," Agar said. "But I absolutely believe we can beat them: we have no choice [but] to believe that we can beat them.
"But we need to play our very best cricket against a side that's played really well four games in a row now. We have to bring our absolute best. We have plenty to gain out of tomorrow, plenty to gain, to just put things into practice and just let it all out there."
Agar scored 40 and 46 in the first two ODIs and, while the bowling figures of some of his team-mates have suffered dreadfully at the hands of England's brutal batting, Agar has been the pick of Australia's attack during this series. He took 2 for 48 at Chester-le-Street and conceded 7 runs per over during England's record innings of 481 at Trent Bridge. He believes that, while it has been a difficult series for AJ Tye and Jhye Richardson in particular, the experience could be positive in the long term.
"I guess Trent Bridge is one that would highlight that for some young bowlers, and we have a quite young bowling attack," said Agar. "To feel what that's like -- JL [Justin Langer] referred to it as the 'jungle', that's international cricket, playing against good players on good wickets and sometimes small grounds.
"That was pretty difficult. It's good to experience that now and not in a World Cup, learn from that now and then know what to do when you face that situation again."
"They definitely would have been hurt after Trent Bridge. Everyone was. That was pretty incredible, it was a world record and unfortunately we were on the receiving end of that. But we have to keep learning from those experiences and it's good to experience that now and not in a World Cup. Learn now, improve now. We can move forward instantly."
Langer, Australia's coach, may decide to tinker with his line-up once more in an effort to find the best balance but, with England unlikely to change what is a red-hot top and middle order, Agar doesn't expect any easing of pressure.
"England are a very good side, an experienced side and they gel really well," Agar said. "They've got beautiful balance in their team and I think we are working towards that.
"Their confidence, their self-belief: they ooze it out there, no doubt. They are playing like a team where everyone knows their role and they back themselves and each other to just go and do it. They've set the benchmark.
"We are not where they are yet but I think tomorrow is just another opportunity to try to win and try and do really well. It's the last game [of the series], you go 100% every game but I think it means more to us now to go as hard as we can and just leave nothing out there."