We have hit the first weekend of the T20 World Cup where some big matches have been scheduled and one of them takes place in Barbados in the second game on Saturday when the last two winners of the tournament meet when Australia take on England.
England took the title from Australia in the back yard of the Australians so there could be a sense of revenge for the 2021 winners, although they have had plenty of success since then. More importantly, this could be the match that decides who wins Group B.
Australia
Australia had a quiet lead up into the tournament with so many of their stars being away at the Indian Premier League which meant that their backroom staff members had to take the field in their warm up matches. They got their campaign underway in comfortable enough fashion with a win over Oman in which you would suggest it was a no frills victory but one which was important even if in an ideal world they would have liked to have been convincing.
The Australian batting took an age to break out against Oman and while some of that would be down to not knowing the opposition as much as they might have done and also that lack of recent experience of the conditions but they will need to come to the party a lot quicker in this match against a much better attack. The good thing for Australia is their bowlers got a decent hit out against Oman and you would imagine they will come on for the run out too.
England
I think it is fair to say that England set off for their title defence with a few doubters not necessarily around how good they are in this format of the game but because their campaign when defending the 50 over competition couldn’t have gone much worse. If there was an issue with England it was that two of their warm up matches were washed out and they didn’t schedule a build-up game in the Caribbean so there was a fear that they were slightly underdone.
England weren’t helped by the rain in their opening game here which meant that they dropped a point to Scotland so already they are in the territory where they can’t afford another bad result or a poor performance anywhere. They will still be expected to come through but a win here would certainly make life a lot easier. They have to bowl better than they did in the 10 overs they sent down against Scotland, albeit they weren’t helped by the rain constantly coming along.
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Team News
Australia surprised plenty in the opening game when they chose to go with Nathan Ellis ahead of Pat Cummins but that selection is expected to be reversed. Mitchell Starc has recovered from the cramp that took him from the field against Oman.
England might look to go in with the same side considering their opening match was reduced to just 10 overs of action. If they are to make a change then they could go with the left arm option of Reece Topley over either Jofra Archer or Mark Wood.
Betting
I think we are going to get a number of sixes in this match. We have two very aggressive batting units who are deep in their batting strength and I expect both to look to take the game to the other as they have done most of the time when they meet. We have six hitters all the way down the two units. Chris Jordan would come in at eight for England and he can belt sixes and Pat Cummins at eight for Australia can do likewise. Australia can play with a bit of a freedom here as they know even if they lose they will be expected to beat Namibia and Scotland while England aren’t going to win this if they go in their shell. England conceded four sixes in just 10 overs to Scotland earlier in the week while Oman hit five sixes against this Australia attack. I think these teams come together for more than 14.5 sixes.
We are seeing more and more in this competition that the middle and lower order runs are coming to the fore and given the depth on show in these sides it might be worth targeting someone down the order for a top bat bet here. The player I like is Matthew Wade. England still have a problem at the death with the ball and Wade has exploited that at times in his career in the past. Wade will have faced plenty of this England side both in an Australia shirt and also in his time in the T20 Blast and The Hundred and being a left hander if he is in against Adil Rashid the ball will be turning into his pads which helps. You can get 15/1 on Wade to top score which looks a trifle big to me.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
Back it here:
Back M.Wade Top Australia Batter for a 1/10 stake at 16.00 with BetVictor
