A STRONG sense of team has quickly been established among the new-look Australian one-day squad and the players aren’t giving a second though to the absence of its suspended stars.

Despite a first up loss to England there is a growing confidence among a unit who found success as a T20 outfit and Glenn Maxwell says they are hugely confident of taking down the home team.

New coach Justin Langer had steeled the group, stacked with players who had little or no international experience, to ride all the bumps a tour of England would present.

That included preparing for an onslaught from the local fans keen to rub salt in to the very open Aussie wounds still healing after the events in South Africa which cost Steve Smith and David Warner their spots in the side.

That animosity hasn’t really eventuated and an ambush marketing attempt at The Oval, with 5000 pieces of yellow sandpaper handed out to fans, fell flat and the players reported little or no crowd interaction.

The performance in that game, with the bowlers nearly rescuing the match after the batsmen failed to fire, left lots of room for improvement going in to Saturday’s second match at Cardiff.

But Maxwell, who made 62 first-up and has made a promise of ore to come, said this new era of Australian cricket was in safe hands with a group of players growing in confidence and belief every day.

“A lot of the guys played in the T20 series we won before the IPL and I think that has helped with the feel of the group as well. There’s that feel of success, that we can win with this group, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of changes to that group,” Maxwell said.

“So to keep the core group of guys together, and there have been a couple of additions and subtractions, but we feel like we still have a really good team that can definitely compete and definitely win at this level.”

Much has been made of Australian team’s behaviour in recent years but under Langer and new captain Tim Paine, Maxwell said a firm eye on the “little things” had created an environment in which the players could thrive.

And this team, with so many looking to plant their flag for a World Cup berth next year, aren’t thinking about who isn’t playing either.

“I haven’t given myself time to think about the absences, you are thinking about your teammates who are there with you and making sure you are taking care of each other,” he said

“It’s been incredibly open and guys are having a lot of conversations. It’s pretty relaxed too, everyone has been really professional the whole time.

“That’s one area I feel like we have been outstanding the last two weeks, ticking all the little boxes and making sure that nothing creeps in to our day to day life where it could be an issue. “

A couple of changes to the Aussie team could be on the cards for game two, with opener D’Arcy Shot a chance to make his ODI debut and quick bowler Jyhe Richardson could in after the English batsmen struggled against the sheer pace of Billy Stanlake at The Oval.

AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND

Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

Weather: Light rain and breezy, top temp of 17C.

Likley teams:

Australia: Tim Paine (capt), Aaron Finch, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, Andrew Tye, Jhye Richardson, Billy Stanlake.

England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood