England look to upset the odds in Sydney

You might not think it looking at England's record in Australia so far, but recent one-day international form indicates that their chances of reaching the finals of the VB triangular series, which starts in Sydney tomorrow, are not entirely unrealistic. This is despite England being the lowest-placed of the three teams in the ICC Championship Table (Australia are first, Sri Lanka fourth and England seventh).

Given England's appalling injury record (almost unbelievably, Surrey's Adam Hollioake is the 31st player to join the squad in Australia) and the fact that they have yet to win a match on the tour, it is not surprising that they are the bookies' outsiders. However they had the better of Sri Lanka in the NatWest Series in June, and have proved a force to be reckoned with against both New Zealand and India over the past year.

Sri Lanka, after losing all but one of their six matches in England, have had an uneven run. After completing the regulation (if irrelevant) clean sweep over Bangladesh in August, they showed steelier signs of revival by winning the first-ever Morocco Cup, beating South Africa. They met India in a more significant final the following month, as hosts of the ICC Champions Trophy, but were fortunate to share the spoils after rain intervened with India on top. The wheels came off again in South Africa, where they lost 4-1.

However as Nasser Hussain has pointed out, past form is not necessarily a guide to future performance anyway. "When we lost to Wales last summer, everyone built it up as the death of English cricket, and we played some excellent cricket in the tournament that followed," said the England captain.

For all three teams, this series is a vital part of the build-up to the World Cup in South Africa in two months' time. So far, Australia's progress has gone most smoothly. Since jettisoning the Waugh twins they have won 5-1 in South Africa and lost 2-1 at home to Pakistan, and were heading for a clean sweep against Pakistan and Kenya when rain washed out the PSO tri-nation final in Nairobi. In the Champions Trophy they handsomely beat New Zealand and Bangladesh, only to be undone by Sri Lanka's spinners in the semi-final.

England opening bowler Andrew Caddick will have a fitness test before the start tomorrow, after sustaining a knee injury during the final warm-up defeat in Canberra on Tuesday. He bowled off his full run-up today despite having his left knee well strapped up. If fit, Caddick is expected to be given the new ball with James Kirtley, with all-rounders Craig White and Ronnie Irani providing support. Australia's twelve shows two changes from the Perth Test, with Steve Waugh and Justin Langer making way for Michael Bevan and the young Tasmanian all-rounder Shane Watson.

Australia (from): RT Ponting (captain), ML Hayden, AC Gilchrist (wkt), DR Martyn, MG Bevan, DS Lehmann, SR Watson, SK Warne, B Lee, JN Gillespie, GD McGrath, AJ Bichel.

England (from): N Hussain (Essex, captain), NV Knight (Warwickshire), ME Trescothick (Somerset), RC Irani (Essex), OA Shah (Middlesex), ID Blackwell (Somerset), C White (Yorkshire), AJ Stewart (Surrey, wkt), GJ Batty (Worcestershire), AR Caddick (Somerset), RJ Kirtley (Sussex), PD Collingwood (Durham), SJ Harmison (Durham), JM Anderson (Lancashire).

Umpires: RE Koertzen (South Africa) & S Taufel (Australia).

3rd Umpire: S Davis (Australia).

Match referee: Wasim Raja (Pakistan).