"He's obviously been a big part of this one-day side for the past couple of years," said Smith ahead of the Thursday's series-opening day-night at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. "He's known as 'The Finisher', obviously. He's done a terrific job there for us. His death bowling has been outstanding as well, so he's a big loss. But it also gives other guys opportunities to fill that role at the death. I think they're relishing that challenge and looking forward to that."

Mitch Starc has typically bowled at the death - with remarkable success last season - but without Faulkner the Australians will need to look to an alternative at the other end. Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pat Cummins are likely to be contenders.

Faulkner was stood down for the series by Cricket Australia in the aftermath of his drink-driving offence during his recent stint playing for Lancashire. He could have returned for the tail end of the series in the event of an injury to a teammate, but he too is now on the sidelines after fracturing his finger while playing for Lancashire last weekend, in the final of England's T20 Blast domestic Twenty20 competition.

While Faulkner has not played since his debut in the final Ashes Test of 2013, new captain Smith predicted he would - fitness-permitting - be in selection contention for next month's tour of Bangladesh, based on his recent red-ball form for Lancashire.

"He performed really well recently [for Lancashire] in the county series over here and he's getting better every day, so I'm sure his name will be thrown up," he said.

Australia did not confirm their XI the day before the match. Smith said the pitch conditions in Southampton may favour the inclusion of Ashton Agar, for what would be his limited-overs debut.

"I certainly think he's come a long way in the past couple of years," Smith said of Agar, who made his debut at the start of the 2013 Ashes. "He's bowled really well in India, I've heard, for all the 'A' stuff they played over there [last month], and in the back end of the [Sheffield] shield season he bowled really well ... it's great to see him doing well."

Smith did not specify where the 21-year-old would bat if chosen, but stressed there was "a lot of potential there".

"He's got a pretty unique style, the way he does it. He's got quite a high grip on the bat, quite similar to Adam Gilchrist I guess, and he's got a lot of talent," Smith said. "Obviously he's pretty new into the system and he works pretty hard on it [batting], so hopefully he can continue to improve there."

The series will be the first played by Australia since the changes to the playing conditions for one-dayers. Since the World Cup, there is no longer a five-over batting power play, fielding teams do not have to have anyone in a catching position in the first 10 overs and are permitted an additional outfielder - four instead of five - in the last 10 overs.

England captain Eoin Morgan said he did not expect a "massive" drop in scoring due to the changes, based on how matches had been played since the changes came into effect on July 5.

"I think it just emphasises your death bowling a bit more," Morgan said. "I think you'll have to be more spot on."

Even though teams only have a single power play now, in the opening 10 overs, Smith said his team would not try and be more aggressive, and would instead prioritise keeping wickets in hand for the last 10 overs.

"I think you see these days, in T20 cricket for instance, guys can go over 10 an over for the last 10 overs. If you've got wickets in the shed anything is possible. That's our plan anyway, to make sure we've got wickets in the shed to make sure we can go quite hard at the back end. The guys are so strong these days they can clear the rope with five out," he said. "It might be a little bit different on this ground. It's a lot bigger than a lot of the other grounds, so it's about our players being a bit smarter."

ENGLAND (from): Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Steve Finn, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

AUSTRALIA (from): Steve Smith (c), Ashton Agar, George Bailey, Joe Burns, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Marsh, James Pattinson, Mitch Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Shane Watson, David Warner.