Cricket News By TODAYLIVESCORE.INFO - Australia seek to spoil untested England's perfect record. Both teams will feel confident of their chances this time around.
Both teams will feel confident of their chances this time around.
The Overview:
Something has to give at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday (October 30). England and Australia are both unbeaten in the Super 12s, with two wins from two, but one of those sides will lose their perfect record when they meet in the biggest game of Group 1 to date. Remarkably it will be the first time England and Australia have met in the T20 WC since the final in Barbados in 2010 when Paul Collingwood lifted the trophy having secured England's first-ever global white-ball title.
Both teams will feel confident of their chances this time around. England have hit the ground running by thrashing both the West Indies and Bangladesh in their opening two matches without even having to get out of second gear. Australia will feel confident too, because while they were made to work hard against South Africa in the opening game, they delivered a more dominant performance against Sri Lanka on Thursday with their opening batters, Aaron Finch and David Warner, finally finding some form.
Australia may well feel the more battled hardened of the two sides as well. Eoin Morgan was keen to emphasise that his side's two comfortable victories were down to the pressure England exerted on West Indies and Bangladesh and while that is clearly true, they were hardly stretched either. As a result, they may feel a little underdone heading into this game. Australia, on the other hand, had to fight hard to beat South Africa, and in the Sri Lanka game, they had their moments with the bat too which forced Australia to respond. England have hardly been pushed at all.
Even so, their bowling attack has been superb and will fancy their chances of making inroads into Australia's middle order if Finch or Warner can be dismissed early. As South Africa showed, Australia's batting remains fallible when put under pressure and while England's bowling remains the weaker element of their game, Chris Woakes, Tymal Mills and Moeen Ali, with eleven wickets between them so far, have been excellent. If they can continue to exert the kind of pressure they did in the first two matches, Australia's batters will have to play very well.
Despite 50 runs coming from the four overs bowled by Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis against Sri Lanka, Australia look set to continue with their batting-heavy strategy rather than bringing in Ashton Agar as an extra bowling option. Maxwell, Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh, if he bowls, will no doubt be targeted by England who themselves have adopted a similar approach to Australia with Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone sharing the fifth bowler duties. The team that scores most from these overs could well determine the winner of this game.
The last time these teams played each other in T20I was during the 2020 English summer. England won 2-1 and Adil Rashid was the standout bowler, picking up six wickets in all. Given the likely five right-handers in Australia's top six, Rashid is set to have an important role in this game too. Australia's middle order can get tied down against spin in the middle overs and Rashid has a good head-to-head record against Steve Smith in T20, a key batter at No.4, having dismissed him twice in just 20 deliveries while conceding just over a run a ball.
When: England v Australia, Super 12 Group 1, 18:00 Local, 19:30 IST
Where: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
What to expect: The side batting second has won nine of the ten Super 12 matches in Dubai in this tournament which makes the toss appears crucial, particularly if the dew makes bowling second difficult. The position of the pitch could make things interesting too if there is a shorter boundary on one side for the batsmen to try and target. Generally, the pitches in Dubai have led to a decent contest between bat and ball and it is likely to be a similar situation for this game.
T20I Head-to-Head: Australia and England have played 19 T20Is with Australia winning ten and England eight (there was one no result). In two T20 WC matches, the record is one win apiece. England's victory in the 2010 final is the last time these two teams have met at a T20 WC.
Team Watch:
England
Injury/Availability Concerns:Eoin Morgan said both Mark Wood and Tom Curran were making progress after being ruled out of both games so far because of niggles. No decision has yet been made on whether either will play.
Tactics & Match-ups: Moeen Ali has bowled three overs in the Powerplay in both of England's matches so far but Australia have only one left-hander in their top six and Aaron Finch's record against Moeen is excellent which would make that tactic a risk in this game. Perhaps Adil Rashid might be an option if Eoin Morgan wants to bowl spin in the Powerplay. Rashid's record against Finch is good and has the added advantage of being able to turn the ball away from both left and right-handed batters.
Possible XI:Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills
Australia
Injury/Availability Concerns:Australia have no injury concerns ahead of this game which means a full squad to pick from.
Tactics & Match-ups: For much of his T20I career, Mitchell Starc has often bowled two overs in the Powerplay for Australia but in their two matches to date in this World Cup, he has bowled just one and been utilised instead in the middle overs, providing a crucial wicket-taking option in that phase of the match. Stark bowled the 11th and 13th overs against Sri Lanka and took two wickets in that spell. With England's middle order short of time at the crease, the left-armer may reprise that role in this game too.
Possible XI:David Warner, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
What they said:
“We're covering a lot of areas with that fifth bowler. We've got Maxwell, Stoinis, Marsh, all who can contribute those four overs. It might change, but at the moment I feel like whichever way we go, we've got plenty of options,” Pat Cummins on whether Australia will stick with their current fifth bowler strategy
“I thought we played really, really well. I thought we were disciplined with the ball. We hit really good lengths. We created opportunity when — not when it came about, but when it wasn't necessarily there. I think we forced them to make mistakes by playing really well,” Eoin Morgan on whether England's win over Bangladesh was actually that good
