Defending champion England will look to restitch its T20 World Cup campaign through an improved bowling effort when its faces Australia in a Group B match here on Saturday.
England’s opening game against Scotland was rained off after the latter made 90 for no loss in 10 overs, forcing the teams to take home a point each. But even those 60 balls showed the need for England to buckle up in the bowling department, to begin with.
Scottish openers George Munsey and Michael Jones scored freely against all England bowlers, and Australia carries far more lethal guns in its line-up.
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David Warner and Marcus Stoinis showed the extent of damage they can do while outclassing Oman in Australia’s tournament opener.
Once again, there will be a lot of focus on Jofra Archer, who gave away 12 runs in two overs against Scotland, as the pacer continues his comeback trail into top-flight cricket.
But bowling is just one part, as the English batters under skipper Jos Buttler, who had a good run in the IPL 2024, will have to fire in unison against the Aussie attack.
The Australian bowlers were potent against Oman even without Pat Cummins, who had a reasonable outing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2024. Nathan Ellis played ahead of Cummins in that game, but Australia might bring back the premier pacer against a much more formidable opponent.
While Australia’s batting looks settled, the misfiring Glenn Maxwell remains a missing link.
After enduring a shipwreck of an IPL campaign with Royal Challengers Bengaluru recently, the ‘Big Show’ got out for a first-ball duck against Oman. The 2021 champions will be eager to see Maxwell return to his best at the earliest, and a match against England offers him a perfect occasion.
Squads
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood
Match starts at 10.30 PM IST
South Africa faces courageous Netherlands
South Africa might have trotted past Sri Lanka in its first match, but it has a tricky opponent in the Netherlands in its second group D match in New York on Saturday.
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The scars from its 38-run loss against the Dutch in last year’s 50-over World Cup might still be fresh in the minds of the Proteas.
The Aiden Markram-led side would certainly want a reversal this time around. The most encouraging signal from its win over Sri Lanka was the form of Anrich Nortje.
South Africa will be banking on the form of its premier bowler Anrich Nortje, who picked up a four-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. | Photo Credit: AFP
The pacer, who was a shadow of his intimidating self in the IPL, seemed to have regained his rhythm on a spicey New York pitch while grabbing four wickets against the Islanders.
Along with Kagiso Rabada, Nortje forms a strong combination upfront, and South Africa will require them in full flight against Netherlands, who started with a six-wicket win over Nepal.
It also ticked a few boxes in that match as frontline batter Max O’Dowd made a fifty while leading pacers Tim Pringle and Logan van Beek took three wickets apiece.
The Dutch side will be hoping for another clinical outing from its top players to bruise their fancied opponent once more.
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