England's theme in the first ODI at the Oval was 'spin to win' as Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid bowled them to a three-wicket victory over Australia, taking a combined 5-79.
Statistics confirm Australia struggle against spin - their batsmen averaging 35.61 against slow bowling per wicket since the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, the seventh worst figure in world cricket, as opposed to second-placed England with 55.93.
So how can the tourists improve against spin? We asked two of the best exponents of batting against the turning ball in their day - Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara.
Watch their insight and analysis by clicking on the video above, which features their views on:
- How Australian players suffer from being brought up on pitches that traditionally bounce between waist and head height, as well as from facing a lack of quality spinners in domestic cricket
- The importance of rotating strike against spin bowling rather than focus solely on hitting boundaries and playing Rashid and Ali off the back foot more frequently
- Why reading a spinner from the hand and identifying what the bowler's stock delivery is early on is crucial to scoring against slow bowling
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