Aaron Finch believes Australia will take confidence from their recent T20 success against England into the standalone fixture at Edgbaston and has said the different format gives his players the opportunity for a fresh start after their 5-0 loss in the ODI series.
Australia won the Trans-Tasman T20 Tri-Series earlier this year, beating England twice before going on to defeat New Zealand in the final. They have most of the same squad available at Edgbaston, although Finch is captain in the absence of David Warner, who led them to success in February before his embroilment in the Cape Town saga.
"We've played really good T20 cricket over the last little while," Finch said. "That was with Davey as skipper in the T20 tri-series but we've got a pretty similar group and the guys are playing some really good cricket in that format. It's probably a format the guys have played a lot more of in the last 12 months, with Big Bash and IPL and things like that.
"It's just about trying to get some continuity over the next six games and really start to develop a core squad that we can take forward almost with one eye on the 2020 World Cup at home."
Finch has captained Australia in both the 20-over and 50-over formats and there has been speculation he may take the ODI reins should Alex Carey, his vice-captain for this game, be favoured as wicketkeeper over Tim Paine, who struggled with the bat in the series against England and admitted his place would be up for discussion.
"Someone asked me about this the other day and I haven't spoken to Tim about anything like that. I haven't thought about it to be honest," Finch said. "If the opportunity came up at some point, having done it a couple of games in New Zealand going back quite a while, if the opportunity is there anyone would love to captain their country but Tim's the man for the job."
Australia will head home via Zimbabwe for a tri-series also involving Pakistan. While there have been security concerns surrounding the tour, Finch said the players had been briefed by the security team and felt comfortable with arrangements. Along with this one-off fixture, the upcoming matches give Finch a chance to nail down the captaincy.
"Yeah I think so," Finch said when asked. "I think when I had the job last it was one game here and there tacked on to a long tour and it would almost be a heap of guys that ship out and a couple of guys would come in to just play one game here and there.
"So I think the amount of T20 that's coming up, I think most of them are three-game series against other countries so it's going to be a great opportunity for guys to start to really cement their spot, put their hand up and be the one going forward in their position and just get some continuity with selection and playing more games."
But before that, Australia will be desperately seeking a win to finish a disappointing tour on a high. After England's last-gasp victory at Old Trafford, Eoin Morgan recalled the way the team's confidence was affected by a string of losses before the 2015 World Cup. "There was a big mountain to climb," in terms of belief, Morgan said.
But Finch rejected the idea that Australia's poor ODI form against England - they have lost 10 out of the last 11 contests between the sides - will have a lasting effect.
"We've just got to start winning, we've just got to play better cricket," Finch said. "I don't think when we turn up next year for the World Cup there'll be any mental scars there, they're probably more for England to be fair. They haven't won a World Cup and it's at home so no doubt the pressure will be huge on them.
"In the one-day format the confidence was definitely affected, England put us on the back foot from the word go and we weren't able to catch up. But we've had success in this format, from seventh in the world to first or second which is a great achievement and done it with mixed and matched teams. We're getting more settled. The confidence took a hit in the one-dayers but I don't think there will be anything to worry about in this format."