The T20 series between England and Australia ends in the bio-secure bubble at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Tuesday evening with the thoughts of both sides likely to be turning to the ODIs which get underway on Friday.
That is because England have already won the series having won the opening two matches. Despite that there is no such thing as a dead rubber between these two proud cricketing nations so there should be plenty of competitiveness about this match.
England
If England were fortunate to get over the line in the first match of the series, there was certainly nothing lucky about their win in the second game. They had Australia under huge pressure early on and never really relented it to the levels that would have been needed for the tourists to have any real foothold in the game. It wasn’t the flashiest display with the bat from England but they still had more than enough to get the game won.
It is fair to say England haven’t given a complete powerpacked performance yet but to be fair Australia aren’t the easiest side to give that sort of a display against. What will have pleased England is how well they have bowled in both their matches thus far. They have stopped Australia getting too far away to begin with and then they have strangled them at the death and that will be very much their aim in this final game.
Australia
While it is a legitimate excuse that they haven’t played much cricket in recent times, the Australians will still be disappointed by how they have performed in their opening two matches. When you think they came to England as the number one side in the world in this format, the least they will have wanted to do is prove to everyone why that is the case. We’ve not really seen that from them though which might be their biggest disappointment.
The big surprise from the Australians is that they haven’t been able to get on top of this England bowling attack. That is the weakness of the English side and usually Australia pride themselves on getting after that weakness. Another concern might be how they have gone with the new ball, although to be fair to the likes of Starc and Cummins, when Jos Buttler is in the form he has been in there isn’t a whole lot you can do.
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Team News
England will be forced into one change for this match as Jos Buttler has been granted leave to go and spend some time with his family. Tom Banton will go up to open and Sam Billings will come into the middle order. Eoin Morgan dislocated a finger on Sunday so it would make sense for him to sit this one out with Joe Denly coming in for him.
Australia may well decide to get some game time into one or two who need it ahead of the ODIs. That means we could see the likes of Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood with Marcus Stoinis and Kane Richardson potentially the men to make way.
Betting
After the news broke that Jos Buttler is missing the game bookmakers have brought Australia into favourites for the contest and I think that is fair. I think they stand to need to win this match more than England do. We might well see the ambition of the two sides at the toss as if Eoin Morgan doesn’t go out to toss the coin it means he isn’t playing and signals that England care more about Friday than they do here, justifiably so in fairness.
To be fair, even if Morgan does play the lloss of Buttler is pretty big. He has been in insane form for England in the two matches and apart from Dawid Malan nobody else has really got in for the home side. Tom Banton will improve now that he’s in his familiar position of opening but even he’ll do well to match the heroics of Buttler from the first two games. I think Australia will come at this one all guns blazing in an attempt to get something before the ODIs so they are my bet here.
Tips
WON – Back Australia to beat England for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
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