Shane Watson urged Australia’s batsmen not to be “spooked” by the swing-friendly conditions in England in the five-match one-day series starting next week.
The swinging ball has caused enormous grief for the Test team in the past two Ashes tours with England emerging victorious on both occasions.
Watson said Australia’s batsmen were working hard to correct their deficiencies following a spate of batting collapses in three of the past four Ashes contests.
“(You) find the areas you need to work on but certainly not get spooked by it,” Watson said.
Australia’s one-day team, still ranked No.1 in the world, has not done too badly in England in its past two series in the UK with a 6-1 victory in 2009 and a 3-2 defeat in 2010.
However Watson said that Australia’s poor showings in the Ashes played on the minds of the players before the one-day series against England starts on June 29 at Lord’s.
“Hopefully … we will have some happy memories (rather) than the previous couple of (Test) series,” he said.
Ricky Ponting’s departure from the Australian one-day team leaves the national side without a batsmen from its last successful Ashes tour in 2001.
Australia open their tour of the United Kingdom against Leicestershire on Thursday at Grace Road before meeting Ireland in Belfast on Saturday.
The tourists play their final warm-up match against Essex on Tuesday.
White Kookaburra balls are used in Britain for limited-overs matches just as in Australia.
The difference comes in the Test arena where the English use a different red ball in the Duke, which tends to swing for longer periods of time under England’s regularly grey skies.
“Like most batting teams, if someone is bowling at good pace and swinging the ball consistently it provides a really big challenge,” Watson said.
“We have to get better to get through those periods.”
Watson said he told emerging Australian quicks Pat Cummins and James Pattinson to learn from his mistakes as they enjoy their first taste of English conditions for the senior team.
The all-rounder found success in England two years ago after deciding to cut down his pace and concentrate more on accuracy and swinging the ball.
The change of approach resulted in him collecting five wicket hauls against Pakistan in Tests at Lord’s and Headingley.
“I finally discovered the better way to bowl here rather than trying to bowl 100 miles an hour, gun-barrel straight, was the reason why I wasn’t getting any wickets,” he said.
He said the differences in the way the balls move around between the Test and one-day formats in England was noticeable.
“One-day cricket is slightly different, because even though there are two brand new white balls, it is probably more the longer form where the Duke ball is different from the Kookaburra how it does swing,” he said.
