Two years ago, Australia made a clean sweep in an ODI series of five matches, followed by its defeat in the World Cup semi- final. Now, Australia’s ignominious defeat at the hands of England in the T-20 series recently. Australia cannot afford to forget all these three happenings. Australia virtually surrendered in the T-20 series against England. Several fundamental problems came to the fore.
The England team is much stronger in One Day cricket. It is the world number 1 team in ODI and it has several match winners who are also in their forms. England has a balanced bowling attack which takes advantage of conditions to the fullest. At the same time, England has strong batting line-up as well.
Particularly, David Malan’s performance in white ball cricket is tremendous. His consistency and his ability to hit lofted shots in the initial overs can make a lot of difference. By virtue of these abilities, Malan has become world number 1 cricketer in T20 matches. If skipper Ian Morgan recovers from finger injury then he can pulverize the rival’s attack with Malan, Jos Buttler and Tom Banton. In addition, lower order batsmen Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes have the capability of winning the match.
One can imagine the bench strength of a team (England) which has four openers and as many wicketkeepers. Now the question is whether Jason Roy will open the innings with Buttler if he is fully match-fit. In fact, Buttler’s performance as an opener has been better than his play at the lower order—neither in average nor in strike rate.
Apart from this, England has aggressive batsmen such as Bairstow and Tom Banton. Even Moin Ali has also opened the innings in the 2015 World Cup. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood did not get a chance to play against Pakistan in T20. But England does not want to take risk against Australia and has, therefore, given both of them a chance to play in the Test. Now it is possible that one of them gets included in final 11 in the team because England has a speedster in the form of Saqib Mahmood apart from Curran Brothers. At the same time, Australian team has gone down to fifth position in One Day ranking. Australian team neither performed in India nor in South Africa. It has not only lost two series but also faced whitewash defeat at the South African team which is passing through reorganisation.
What gives a sense of relief is that Australia somehow managed to win a one day match against New Zealand while the other two matches were washed away due to rains. The biggest weakness of this team is Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith being out of form. Australia is on the backfoot because both the match winners are not in the form. Mitchell Marsh made a comeback and scripted the victory against England in the third T20 but he also succumbed to the pace bowling pressure. Australian team is overdependent on Warner and Finch. In the middle order, Australia has the only dependable player Marnus Labuschagne whose average is over 50 runs per innings. Stoinis, Ashton Agar and Mathew Wade add runs to the total which Australia can consider to be bonus only.
Perhaps keeping all this in view, Australia has included six fast bowlers in its bowling attack. Mitchell Stark and Pat Cummins have speed while Hazlewood has skill to bowl in England’s conditions. Andrew Tye has the ability to devastate the rivals in death overs with his yorker skills. Australia has leg spinner Adam Zampa, lefty spinner Ashton Agar and off-spinner Nathan Lyon. Lyon has experience, while Agar has proved to be a good bowler in power play. Zampa needs to control his line. At the same time, England has only dependable leg spinner Adil Rashid. Off spinner Moeen Ali also has the ability to get breakthrough on many occasions. The match will be at Old Trafford ground where bowl gets slower that makes condition for spinners favourable. Australia’s hope is pinned on the bowling