Andrew McDonald vows to maintain rage despite rare ODI flop as West Aussies to be injected in against Pakistan

Australia are set to inject a wealth of West Australian talent into the ODI side to face Pakistan in the deciding game in Perth on Sunday.

It comes as head coach Andrew McDonald vowed to continue to leave the green light of batting aggression on despite the side’s misfires in Melbourne and Adelaide.

Lance Morris, Spencer Johnson, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott, Cooper Connolly and Marcus Stoinis are among possible inclusions for the third ODI with Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne receiving an extended break ahead of the Test summer.

West Australian wicketkeeper Josh Inglis has been handed the captaincy reins in the absence of Cummins and Mitch Marsh, who is on paternity leave ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series starting with the West Test on November 22.

Australia come into the third contest off the back of an Adelaide Oval calamity that led to one of the country’s most embarrassing ODI losses.

Pakistan levelled the ODI series at 1-1 after thrashing Australia by nine wickets on Friday night, looking at home under Adelaide’s bright lights.

The hosts were bowled out for 163 in 35 overs, with Pakistan cruising to the victory target with 141 balls to spare and both openers making half centuries.

It marked the first time since 1992 that Australia has lost a home ODI by nine wickets.

However, McDonald is backing the side and power-packed openers Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk to turn their fortunes around.

“Matt Short (in the ODIs and T20s) in England showed he’s up to the task,” McDonald said.

“And Jake is not the finished article either. I think everyone thinks he may be the finished article.

“He’s going on a journey with his career, and we believe he’s good enough to play at this level at this point in time.

“Clearly there’s always going to be some setbacks within that. But we believe we’ve got the right personnel in there to continue to grow as a group.”

Australia will need to find an answer on how best to handle star Pakistan paceman Haris Rauf, who has snared 3-67 and 5-29 so far this series.

Australia have shown cracks under the pressure of raw pace, with even Test stars Smith and Labuschagne falling victim to the speed and aggression of a raw Pakistan attack.