Former Australia superstar Mike Hussey believes that Australia should look for their best team – and Tim Paine someone who he doesn’t think is going to feature in that. The newly-appointed ODI captain of Australia has an average of just over 8 in the ongoing ODI series against England and there are calls for him to be replaced by Alex Carey.

Hussey, meanwhile, is one of the advocates of Carey. The legendary former left-handed middle-order batsman, who is still hailed by many as the greatest finisher of all time, thinks that Australia should bring in Carey as soon as possible as there is only just under a year left for the World Cup to begin.

"We need to be looking at who's in our best team and the best players to play in that team. I'm not sure in 12 months' time Tim Paine will be there because if you think Alex Carey is a better one-day option, you're better off getting him in there sooner rather than later, if the selectors think he's a better one-day option."

Speaking of David Warner and Steve Smith, Hussey is of the opinion that they should walk straight into the World Cup squad for Australia after their ban period is over as they are players of the highest quality.

"It’s hard to say so far out, but the quality of player they (Smith and Warner) are you probably would say they are (walk-up selections). As long as they do everything right in the lead up, they’re in good touch skills-wise, they’re in good fitness, no injury concerns and they’ve done all the right things preparation-wise and behavioural-wise as well, then you’d have to think they’d come straight back in because they’re such quality players.”

Hussey then spoke about the magnitude of England’s ability in the limited overs of the game. With the World Cup beginning in just under a year’s time, it is important for the players to gel together as a team and know their roles – and this is where England stand out, making them the favourites to lift the trophy according to Hussey.

"It (World Cup) is not a long time away and that’s the one thing that does concern me,” he explained. “Leading into a World Cup year, you want to have continuity with your team, you want to get the guys playing together, getting the understanding, the communication out in the middle, knowing their roles very well and feeling comfortable around each other and that’s what England have been able to do.

"That’s why I think they’ll go into the World Cup as favourites because they have such a settled team and they’ve been playing together for quite a period of time now.

“Now Australia’s not going to have that luxury. We’re going to have some quality players coming back in but they’re not going to have much time to really build that continuity and communication between the group.”

The good news for Australia is that both Steve Smith and David Warner will play some cricket ahead of the World Cup. While both of them are set to play in the Global T20 Canada league, David Warner has also signed to play in the Caribbean Premier League.