‘Have the chance for 5-0, will give it our best shot’ – Adil Rashid

Adil Rashid believes England would have been on the brink of a series sweep even if Australia had been playing their strongest side.

Australia lost the first four matches of the series comprehensively, and are looking at a 5-0 whitewash going into thefinal one-day international at Old Trafford on Sunday, 24 June.

The visitors are, however, without six of their regular first-team players. While Steve Smith and David Warner are both serving 12-month bans over the ball-tampering incident in March, all of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Marsh are nursing injuries.

While that is a cause for Australia’s poor form in the series, Rashid pointed out that most of these players were in action during the ODI series in Australia in January, when England won 4-1.

Asked whether the result would have been different had Australia played their first-choice XI, Rashid said: “No, I don't think so. Those players were still playing in Australia – Steve Smith, Warner, Cummins, Hazlewood. They were still playing. We won 4-1 there, and here it's 4-0, so I think it's very similar.”

That said, Rashid looked to play down the fact that England were on the brink of sweeping the series, and insisted the hosts were taking the match as they would any other.

“It's just another game and we have to take it a game at a time," said Rashid. "Once the game's done, if you've got the whitewash, then you've got things to talk about.

"We are fairly confident. We're playing well as a team as we have been doing so for a couple of years. We have the chance to win 5-0 so we are going to go out and give it our best shot.”

Rashid has been in impeccable form in the five-match series, having picked up 11 wickets so far. With Moeen Ali in equally impressive form – together they have returned 19 scalps this series –the Australia batsmen have found the going tough, especially in the middle overs.

During the six-wicket win at Chester-le-Street, Rashid also went past Graeme Swann's tally of 106 wickets in ODIs, making him England's most successful spinner in the format.

“I'm proud of that,” said Rashid. “Swanny was a great bowler for England across all formats, so going past him means a lot.”