Australia were schooled in ODI cricket against England in June and the main lesson learned by paceman Kane Richardson was the importance of starting well.

Richardson played in three of the five losses to world No.1 England and in each match conceded a boundary in his opening over, a cardinal sin in one-day cricket according to new coach Justin Langer.

"That was as tough as I've played in international cricket in terms of bowling," Richardson said on this week's episode of The Unplayable Podcast.

"The washup for me from 'JL' (Langer) was about starting well.

"I think every game over there I went for a boundary in my first over and all of a sudden the pressure is on and I started questioning myself a little bit.

"(The main lesson was) just how important starting well is for setting up your day and your 10 overs in a game. You can't afford to cough up anything.

"That was a serious tour in terms of learning as an international bowler, not just for me but all the other boys that were there as well."

The limited-overs tour was Richardson's first-ever taste of cricket in England, a baptism of fire that saw Australia whitewashed and concede a world record score of 6-481 in Nottingham.

The right-armer finished with series figures of six wickets at 26 but was spared the trauma of Trent Bridge, and hopes the knowledge gleaned on tour will hold him in good stead as he pushes his case for a World Cup berth in England next year.

"It was definitely a learning experience," the 27-year-old said. "I think I actually came out of it OK in terms of my stats at the end of the tournament but I think I was probably helped by not playing that 481 game at Trent Bridge, so stats don't tell the whole story.

"All the grounds are so unique and different and all the wickets are a little bit different as well.

"There's going to be grounds where you do a bit better at and ones where you're going to struggle.

"In the end, if selected (for the World Cup) you're always going to have confidence that you can do a job if needed.

"But there's plenty of good quality quicks in this country at the moment so it's going to be a fight to get on the plane over there."

Australia slipped to sixth in the ODI rankings for the first time in 34 years after the clean sweep to leave their World Cup defence in disarray less than 12 months out from the 2019 tournament.

But Richardson is optimistic that with a full-strength bowling unit available, and the potential return of Steve Smith and David Warner to the batting order, the five-time World Cup winners can pose a serious threat next year.

"First of all just getting some confidence back in the key performers in the team," Richardson said when asked what Australia needs to do to reverse their poor ODI form.

"There was very little contribution in terms of the batting.

"'Finchy' (opening batter and vice-captain Aaron Finch) has been such a good opener for Australia in one-day cricket but he was batting in the middle.

"'Heady' (batter Travis Head) was promising but would get starts and then get out.

"If you've got a few blokes who are really cashing in like Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy and Joe Root, it just makes (the bowlers') job so much easier.

"Once those boys start playing consistent one-day cricket again I'm sure they'll turn it around and then a fit and firing bowling attack will help as well."