England v Australia, 3rd T20I, Southampton – Contest for No. 1 ICC rank looms as England look to seal 3-0 whitewash
It was mentioned in the post-match presentation of the previous game that an England-Australia clash is never deemed to be a dead rubber, and indeed, tonight’s game would not be one either. England would look to hit two birds with one stone in the third T20I against Australia, complete a 3-0 whitewash, and claim the ICC number one rank in T20I Cricket for good, toppling over their arch-rivals in the process.
The England bowling attack, having been under scrutiny in the shortest format over the last few months, responded brilliantly in the previous game by taking out the Australian top-order, aided by some very good ground fielding. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood beat the Australian batsmen with pace on a seemingly slow and low surface, where pace off the ball has been the key to success.
The England bowlers followed that up with a very disciplined performance in the middle-overs, breaking through frequently and keeping the runs down. Although they would have liked to finish better, with the last over going for 18, the way the bowlers were in command of the situation throughout the innings would count as a major plus point in their preparation for the T20 World Cup next year.
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The unavailability of Jos Buttler, who had to leave the squad temporarily due to personal reasons, opens up another opportunity for Tom Banton to open the innings and seal the spot for the upcoming ODI series, in the absence of regular opener Jason Roy. Sam Billings is best suited to return to number 5 and get one final chance to make an impression. England would want another crucial cameo from Moeen Ali, who seemed to have found his spark back in the last three games.
For Australia, the consequences of tonight’s game will not be as important, other than the fact that they might lose their no. 1 spot to their arch-rivals upon defeat. That, and much like England, they would want their middle-order to be more productive and play to their best potential.
Given the kind of form each of the top-three batsmen, David Warner, Aaron Finch, and Steve Smith to an extent, have presented, one of the three of them need to bat through so that they can provide the shadow of support to the likes of Marcus Stoinis or Glenn Maxwell, who are best suited to go after the bowling in the middle/latter stages over playing the role of anchor.
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Team news – England
As mentioned earlier, Buttler’s temporary departure from the squad would mean that Tom Banton, who has not been productive in the middle-order throughout this series, will be pushed back up to open the innings, and his opening partner Jonny Bairstow will take the big gloves. There are doubts over the availability of captain Eoin Morgan as well, who dislocated a finger while fielding last game, although he did walk out to bat in his usual position and there were no signs of discomfort while playing his strokes during his short stay at the crease.
Probable XI: Tom Banton, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan (c), Sam Billings, Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood
Team news – Australia
With not much left to play in the series, Australia would want to exploit the squad depth that they have. Young Josh Philippe, who was picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the upcoming IPL after a breakthrough Big Bash League, might get the nod ahead of the underwhelming Alex Carey, who could not do justice to the promotion he got in the batting order in their last outing.
Alex Carey has had a forgettable outing with the bat in both games
The Australians might consider giving Josh Hazlewood a go ahead of the upcoming One Day Internationals to ensure rotation in the fast bowling department and get the Tamworth-born quick some game time. Since Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins provide different dimensions to the attack, Kane Richardson would be the unfortunate one to miss out.
Probable XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Josh Philippe (wk), Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa
Venue: The Ageas Bowl, Southampton, Hampshire
Jos Buttler has been the only one to score freely on a surface which Eoin Morgan said was difficult to bat on. The same surface will be used today, and yet another low-scoring game might be on the cards. The weather has been predicted to be dry, so an uninterrupted game is expected.