Champions Trophy: England vs Australia, Match 3, Group A - Aus preview

Having dominated world cricket for a decade and a half, Australia find themselves in an unfamiliar position as the two time defending champions begin their Champions trophy campaign against England at Edgbaston on Saturday with the odds stacked heavily against them. This is the first of the many encounters that the traditional rivals are scheduled to have this season, and both teams will be under the added pressure of concentrating on the job on hand amidst all the ‘Ashes talk’.

To make matters worse for Australia, the regular skipper and their best batsman by a mile, Michael Clarke, has been ruled out of the tie owing to his chronic back issue. The Aussies, however, will draw some consolation from the fact that in the last one-day tournament they participated in, they blanked West Indies 5-0.

Batting

In Clarke’s absence – as India discovered in the warm-up tie at Cardiff – the batting lineup can be very brittle. It was the new ball that caused the damage and the top order will have their task cut out against Anderson and co. The start provided by Shane Watson and David Warner will be crucial as both of them are capable of taking the game away from the opposition.

Phillips Hughes had a rough time in India but the conditions here are familiar to him, and he has been quite successful in his county stints. In stand-in skipper George Bailey and Adam Voges, Australia have got the required expertise to steer the ship in the middle overs.

Bowling

The McGraths and Lees are long gone but still the current Aussie pace attack is as good as it gets. The new ball bowlers, Clint McKay and Mitchell Starc, were among the wickets in both the practice games, and they will be keen to dictate terms with the new ball again.

They have another wicket-taker, Mitchell Johnson, who can be erratic at times, but his recent show in the IPL has been encouraging. Keeping the conditions in mind, they are likely to field five seamers with all rounders James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh rounding off the attack.

Key Player

Shane Watson went through a turbulent time during the test series in India but recovered well to emerge as the Most Valuable Player in the recently concluded IPL. There are few players in world cricket who can create as much impact as Watson – with both bat and ball, and he will have a substantial bearing on the match.

Head to Head

Not surprisingly, Australia holds the edge here, winning 67 of their 117 encounters while England have managed to win just 46. In their last Champions Trophy game, Australia decimated England by 9 wickets at Centurion with Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting scoring blazing centuries.

However, the last time these two teams met was in a five match series in England, which the home team dominated completely to win 4-0.

Probable XI

Shane Watson, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, George Bailey (c), Adam Voges (wk), Mathew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Clint McKay

Conditions

If the warm up matches here are anything to go by, tall scores should be the order of the day. The new ball will pose a few questions, but as the day progresses, the pitch will flatten out and run scoring will become easier.

Prediction

Australia will start as the underdogs but as New Zealand recently showed, England can be beaten in their den.

Other point of interest

No matter what the players say, if it is Australia and England it has to be about the Ashes. David Gower has sounded the bugle, watch out for the banter between the former English and Aussie cricketers in the commentary box.