Intro:

Australia and England get set for their ODI in Hobart on Friday.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English): Ian Bell, England batsman:
"Australia are playing good cricket but for us every game is important as we build up to that World Cup and you know we didn't start the game great against Australia last time so it would be nice to certainly start the game well and have a good 100 overs for us as we did against India."

SOUNDBITE (English): Ian Bell, England batsman:
"I think it's over talked about (sledging) to be honest. You don't want people to go over the line but generally I've seen it managed quite well and you want cricket to be aggressive, you want it to be a contest that's what it's about but you know you just want to go out and execute your skills. I mean sometime you get carried away with all this talk about sledging and stuff. It's about competing and winning and doing what you need to do with your job."

SOUNDBITE (English): Ian Bell, England batsman:
"Beating Australia in this series is a good start if we can do that going into Melbourne but like I said looking around and the confidence and mood that we have as a group we're in a good place and I think every time you play Australia you want to win as we always do but it would be good to start in this series."

SOUNDBITE (English): Stephen Smith, Australia Captain:
"The thought of Phillip (Hughes) is always going to be in the back of our mind but I think the way we've handed ourselves over the summer has been terrific. The guys have really stepped up to the plate and got the job done so we're in a pretty good place right now.

SOUNDBITE (English): Stephen Smith, Australia Captain:
"I think we've all played down here enough so we know what to expect. I think it's going to be a very good wicket and I think there's going to be a lot of runs in this game so we've got to be prepared for that."

SOUNDBITE (English): Stephen Smith, Australia Captain:
"We're playing some very good cricket at the moment. I think that's a positive sign for us. I think England played a very good game the other day against India. It was pretty much a fool package victory for them so they're a quality side with some very dangerous players so we're going to have to be on our best to beat them tomorrow and in the world cup as well so we've just got to keep improving."