As England prepare to go head-to-head with Australia in five Sky Live ODIs, we look back at some classic tussles from previous series.
2015 - Winter of discontent
England's most recent one-day scraps with Australia made for pretty grim reading, with the side losing all four of their matches against The Baggy Greens earlier this year. Eoin Morgan's men lost the opening encounter of their torrid World Cup campaign to the great rivals by 111 runs - Australia opener Aaron Finch bludgeoning 135 after being dropped on nought by Chris Woakes - and the tourists didn't fare much better in the preceding Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series.
Sure, they motored past India to secure a spot in the final but centuries from Morgan and Ian Bell couldn't inspire them to victories over Australia in the group stage while they were crushed by 112 runs in the showpiece game after Mitchell Johnson's searing seam and Glenn Maxwell's reasonable spin skittled them for 166 at The WACA.
2014 - Another winter of discontent
Hot on the heels of an Ashes walloping down under, England had to lift themselves for the one-day leg. Morgan, who had been biffing balls in the Big Bash League while his England's team-mates were being hammered in the Test arena, found his mojo, cracking one hundred and two fifties across the five-match series to finish as the top run scorer on either side - but couldn't stop the tourists sinking to a 4-1 defeat.
England should have levelled things at 1-1 in game two when Australia, chasing 301 for victory thanks to Morgan's 99-ball 106, were reduced to 244-9, but James Faulkner then dazzled, whacking Ben Stokes for five sixes before creaming three successive fours off Tim Bresnan to seal the win. A shell-shocked England won the penultimate ODI – Stokes and Jos Buttler picking up fifties and the former also snaring four wickets – but it was scant consolation.
2013 - Close but Watson wins it
Another ODI series, another Australia victory, though the 2013 offering was pretty competitive. Rain caused the first contest at Headingley to be washed out, before the Baggy Greens took a 1-0 lead at Old Trafford thanks to an eighth - and ultimately final - ODI hundred for Michael Clarke and the fact that bar Buttler (75), Kevin Pietersen (60) and Morgan (54) the rest of England's batsmen did naff all.
The rain came teeming down in game three, too, but England squared up proceedings next up in Cardiff, despite Clint McKay offing Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Joe Root in a big-name hat-trick, as Buttler blasted 65 not out from 48 balls. The decider, though, was sealed by Shane Watson, the bleach-blonde Aussie smacking 143 at The Ageas Bowl as the away side posted and defended 298, Ben Stokes' 5-61 and Ravi Bopara's 62 in vain.
2012 - Clarke's clan crumble
England beat Australia by 15 runs in the opening match at Lord's - the first time they had conquered the Antipodeans in an ODI at HQ since 1997 - and never looked back, racing to a 4-0 win.
In a rain-affected series, no batsman was able to reach three figures, with Morgan's unbeaten 89 at Lord's - his fourth of what is now 10 scores in excess of 50 against the Baggy Greens - and Bopara's 82 in match two at The Oval the pick of the innings, though Clarke's 61 at the Home of Cricket did take him past 7,000 ODI runs for Australia, a feat only matched by Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and the Waugh brothers, Mark and Steve. Such was England's dominance, only six of their batsmen got a hit in the series, with Bopara, Trott and Bell notching two fifties apiece.
2011 - A series too far
Spent - no doubt - after their glorious Ashes triumph, England folded in equally impressive fashion to a crushing 6-1 defeat that included their highest ODI total in a defeat, the 333-6 posted in the sixth game at Sydney. Jonathan Trott's 137 was eclipsed by Michael Clarke's well-paced 82 as Australia recorded their highest successful ODI chase.
Adam Voges hit a career-best 80 to seal England's fate in the final match and give Australia real cause for the World Cup but it proved false hope as The Baggy Greens were toppled in the last eight by eventual champions India. The tone for the series was set by a magnificent 161no from Shane Watson in the first one-dayer at the MCG and just when they thought they had Australia on the ropes at Hobart, Shaun Marsh (110) came to Australia's rescue. Trott's measured 102 gave England hopes of a dramatic comeback after their third loss but it proved a false dawn - the tourists having already had their moment in the sun.
Watch England take on Australia in the first one-day international live on Sky Sports 2 from 1.30pm on Thursday.