England ODI Tri-Series in Australia 2015 live on Sky Sports

With the ICC Cricket World Cup just a few weeks away, Australia, India and England will fine tune their preparations for the forthcoming carnival of cricket with an ODI triangular series Down Under, live on Sky Sports.

Less than a month before their showdown on the opening day of the 2015 World Cup, Australia and England will go head-to-head in at least two dress rehearsals ahead of the tournament as part of a three-team warm-up series.

Australia, England and India will play each other twice ahead of the final at the WACA in Perth, though unlike previous Australian-based tri-nation series, each team will only play the others twice, resulting in half the number of matches, with the World Cup itself starting just two weeks later on February 14.

It is a crucial series for all three teams ahead of the World Cup, with the timing and venues of the series quite apt for both the two visiting teams.

The series should provide a chance for the players to acclimatise themselves to the unique conditions in Australia, before the biggest cricketing extravaganza begins just a fortnight after the final.

While India and Australia are looking solid as one-day units, England’s World Cup preparations have been unsettling at best, following the removal of Alastair Cook as one-day captain, to be replaced by fellow batsman Eoin Morgan.

Cook, who was appointed to lead the one-day side in 2011, averages only 27.52 in his last 20 one-dayers, and despite insisting during the recent 5-2 series defeat in Sri Lanka that he would not resign, the selectors’ took the decision to remove from the post barely two months out from the World Cup.

The end of Cook’s reign as one-day skipper comes at the end of a turbulent year for the opener, in which he has presided over a 5-0 Ashes series defeat, the ending of Kevin Pietersen’s international career and calls for him to stand down as Test captain.

Irish-born Morgan, who has played 107 ODIs for England, now takes over the reigns as England ODI captain and is charged with leading a team which has struggled to make a significant impact on 50-over cricket in recent years, especially in World Cups, with England having failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals since 1992.

While Cook’s form as ODI captain was firmly placed under huge media scrutiny, Morgan statistically is also in a similarly poor run of form, averaging only 25.45 in his last 23 matches.

The new England one-day captain will be hoping to make a statement in this three-team warm-up series ahead of the World Cup against four-time winners Australia and reigning world champions India.

MS Dhoni will lead the Indian side in the series, where all three teams will play four matches each, excluding the finals, while in the absence of regular skipper Michael Clarke, George Bailey will lead the Australian pack.

Follow every ball of England’s final competitive matches before the World Cup in this Carlton Mid Tri-Series ODI competition, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

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Sky Sports will screen exclusive coverage of England’s final matches before the Cricket World Cup as they take on Australia and India in a pre-tournament ODI Tri-Series.

There will be live coverage of all seven ODI’s on Sky Sporst 2, running from mid-January to early February, with matches being played in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, before the series culminates with the final in Perth on February 1.

Ian Ward introduces live coverage of each fixture from Sky Studios in London alongside guests including England internationals Bob Willis and Matt Prior.

Sky Sports will be using the broadcast feed provided by Channel Nine, the host broadcasters in Australia, with its commentary team including Mark Nicholas, Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, Ian Healy, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, with Sky regular David Lloyd also set to be part of the roster.

Extended highlights of each ODI encounter from Down Under will be broadcast at various times throughout the day on Sky Sports 2, as well as the rest of the Sky Sports network (times vary).

Fans who subscribe to Sky Sports will be able to watch the action live on mobile, laptop and selected tablet devices via Sky Go wherever they are.

Further features, analysis, interviews as well as live score updates and text commentary can be found on the Sky Sports cricket website, with additional, behind-the-scenes updates via Twitter – @SkyCricket.

The Tri-Series comes just a few weeks before cricket’s greatest global showpiece, the ICC Cricket World Cup, which will be staged in Australia and New Zealand, throughout February and March.

Sky Sports will dedicate an entire channel to its exclusively live coverage of the tournament, with Sky Sports 2 becoming Sky Sports World Cup, giving fans over 1,000 hours of round the clock coverage, including all 49 matches live, as well as extensive build-up, analysis and highlights.

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