England and Australia once again renew hostilities on Sunday when the two nations play out the second T20 of the three match series at the Ageas Bowl. Australia will be irked at throwing the first game away and will need to win this one to keep the series alive.
England will know that they got away with one in that opening match and will be out to be a lot better in this second one. If they are better here and win again they will have the series wrapped up with a match to spare.
England
It was a completely different performance from ones we are used to seeing for England on Friday night. Usually we are accustomed to them bashing sides all over the shop and doing enough to contain their opposition to fewer than what they get. That wasn’t how it played out on Friday though as they were shackled for the most part with the bat in their hand, but their bowlers really stood up to be counted and ended up winning England the game.
I wasn’t impressed with the make up of the England side in the opener. I’m a big fan of Tom Banton but not at number four in the order and they looked a batsman light to begin with and once a couple of wickets went down they got caught between sticking and twisting. I expect another batter to come in for this match to give them more freedom to keep on playing their shots as is their modus operandi in white ball cricket these days.
Australia
They won’t need anyone to tell them that Australia should have won the first game. Needing 39 runs from the last six overs with plenty of wickets in hand should be a cruise but they stuttered and then eventually stumbled and allowed England to burgle them at the death. You would expect that would only have acted to fire Australia up to deliver an even stronger showing here, even though for 30 overs of the first match they were next to flawless in all departments.
Australia will be delighted with their bowling effort in that first game. They didn’t panic when Jos Buttler was coming at them hard from the off and then once they had got rid of him they squeezed England nicely and kept them to a total that they really should have chased down, only to falter at the end. It might be that they bring another all-rounder into the side to strengthen their batting but it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if they give those who got them into a good position on Friday the chance to do so again only this time to get them over the line.
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Team News
I expect England to play another batsman in this match so it might be that Joe Denly comes into the side for one of the seam bowlers as this pitch is only going to take more and more spin, so the leggies of Denly will be as useful as his batting.
With Glenn Maxwell offering up a good three overs on Friday, it might be that Australia replace Marcus Stoinis with another batsman in order to sort their middle order woes out a little bit. Marnus Labaschagne or Matthew Wade would be options were they to do that.
Betting
I’m not surprised the bookmakers have the odds for the match as close as they do because Australia should have won the opener but I expect England to address their light looking batting line up for this match and that will give them the freedom to really power up and bat like we know they can. That might well be good enough for them to win the match but I’m always a little wary about their bowling despite the heroics of that unit in the opening game.
Instead I’m more confident that England will hit the most sixes in this match. They won the sixes battle on Friday and that was without the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali – all renowned six hitters – not getting going at all. Australia batted well in that first game for 15 overs but Steve Smith isn’t a natural six hitter at three and Warner at opener hasn’t really looked in top form for a while. England just hit and keep on hitting and the even money on then plundering the most sixes appeals to me here.
Tips
Back England Most 6s for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Sky Bet
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