England v Australia, 2nd T20I, Southampton – Rusty Australians look to improve middle-order performance to level series
Despite being favourites for the best part of the first T20I, a rusty Australia side, in their first International match in 6 months, lost 5 wickets for 37 runs in the last 6 overs of their chase of 160, gifting the hosts a valuable one-nil lead in the 3-match series.
On the other side of the spectrum, the notable thing was the way the England bowlers, having gone for runs at the start, carved their way back in the game and managed to defend a moderate total, after conceding heavily in the past few T20 Internationals.
Chris Jordan, the second-highest T20I wicket-taker for England after Stuart Broad, once again showed his class at the death, conceding only 5 runs in the penultimate over against Stoinis and Agar. The return of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, both of whom broke through with sheer pace, Archer claiming the crucial wicket of David Warner, bolstered the England bowling unit.
Chris Jordan, England’s second-highest T20I wicket-taker with 61 wickets in 6 years of T20I Cricket
England, though, would desperately want more from their middle-order on a more consistent basis. A flying start from Jos Buttler, which had the run-rate hovering around 10 in the powerplay, was followed by a rather limp finish to the innings. Barring him and Dawid Malan, who’s half-century helped England reach 162, none of the batsmen were able to make an impact, mostly falling to poor shots and some good catching.
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The same can be said for Australia who seemed to have the game in the bag in their first ten overs. They need to step up to the task when required, even if the job at hand is meager in nature.
Although to be fair, Australia did not field specialist middle/late order batsmen in the XI, due to the lack of the same in their squad. Both Marcus Stoinis and Alex Carey have accustomed themselves to opening the innings for their BBL franchises; Carey dropping down to number 4 on occasions, and they have done so with reasonable success.
With a batsman of Glenn Maxwell’s stature, who has the ability to make a major impact with fewer overs left to the innings, they might consider promoting either one of the two higher up the order or turn towards the bench to choose between the likes of Labuschagne or Wade.
Having said that, Australian vice-captain Pat Cummins stated that even though the middle-order role is one of the hardest to perform, they want to try and give the established batsmen in domestic Cricket a fair opportunity in that. He told ESPNCricinfo, “I think we’re pretty happy with our combination, it’s worked for us over the last couple of years in T20 cricket, so it’s just about slotting those guys into those roles consistently. I’d say that’s more than likely going to happen.
“It’s something we’ve spoken about for exactly that reason. They’re all the best players when they go back for domestic comps and you could argue that the middle-order role is one of the hardest in any cricket team. That’s what we’ve identified, that we’ve got to try and give guys a go in that – because someone like MS Dhoni was best in the world at it because he’d played 300 or 400 ODI games. And I think you saw this week during the practice games we gave a lot of guys a go in that and we know it’s not going to happen overnight.
“That’s been a common theme that the selectors and Finchy have spoken about, we’ll identify roles and give them a long run in that. I think we’ve got the right squad, the right players, it’s just about trying to get plenty of games into everyone now.”
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Team news – England
While Jos Buttler has established himself as a reputed finisher, he has found success batting at the top-order in this format. Given that Tom Banton admitted to having struggled to adapt down the order, and the lack of a proper slog-overs specialist, the England camp might consider swapping the two Somerset-born batter-keepers in the line-up. We might get to see the Curran brothers replacing each other, with Sam coming in to provide an additional dimension to England’s bowling attack with his left-arm incoming deliveries.
Probable XI:
Tom Banton, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood
Team news – Australia
While the prospect of instating Marnus Labuschagne in place of Marcus Stoinis seems tempting, the Australian camp would want to give the current XI one more opportunity. Maybe a change in the batting order, with either Stoinis or Carey being promoted so that they can be utilized to the best effect might take place. Although the Australian bowlers did a commendable job day before yesterday, the tight upcoming schedule and the rustiness among the players would be factors behind their think tank in considering rotating their quicks.
Probable XI:
David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Steven Smith, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa
Venue: The Ageas Bowl, Southampton, Hampshire
Eoin Morgan stated after the first game that Jos Buttler made the pitch looked friendlier for batsmen than it appeared. The pitch for tomorrow’s game will be worn-out and drier, meaning that spinners from both sides will have a crucial role to play. Thankfully, a bright, sunny day is expected at Southampton, meaning that a full game is certain to take place.