England one-day cricket captain Alastair Cook is preparing to get an early look at Australia ahead of the old rivals’ limited overs series by playing for county side Essex against the tourists on Tuesday.
“Everyone always looks forward to England playing Australia,” said Cook after the the third one-day international against the West Indies at Headingley on Friday was washed out without a ball being bowled.
“It’s going to be another good series — they are the world’s number one-ranked side in one-day cricket so it’s going to be another good real test for us in our home conditions.
England play Australia in five one-day internationals starting at Lord’s on June 29.
But before then, Australia – who started their tour with a 102-run defeat of Leicestershire on Thursday – play Ireland in a one-dayer in Belfast on Saturday before facing Essex at Chelmsford, east of London, on Tuesday.
Cook made his name when, yet to be picked by England, he scored 214 for Essex against Australia in a two-day game at Chelmsford in 2005 with county and England colleague Ravi Bopara weighing in with 135 as they shared a second-wicket stand of 270.
Opening batsman Cook, who against the West Indies led England to a 2-0 series win after victories by 114 runs at Southampton and eight wickets at The Oval — where the left-hander scored 112 — is not in England’s Twenty20 squad.
And that means he will miss the T20 international against the West Indies at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge on Sunday.
The Twenty20 squad will also be without Ian Bell, who marked his return to England one-day duty by being named man of the series against the West Indies with scores of 126 in Southampton and 53 at The Oval after opening in place of Kevin Pietersen, who has retired from international white ball cricket.
“It’s always frustrating when you don’t get selected – you’ve just got to wait your chance and take it as Belly did in this series,” said Cook.
Asked if he would play in Tuesday’s match, Cook replied: “I think so. (Otherwise) I won’t have had a bat for a week between games.”
The upcoming England-Australia series is being billed in some quarters as a dress rehearsal for next year’s Ashes campaign in England.
However, the 27-year-old Cook said: “It will be great to see some new guys in their team but it counts for little if you are comparing it to an Ashes.
“But it’s a very big series for us as a one-day team.”
