🏏ICC Men's T20I WC 2022: Super 12 - Group 1 - AUS vs ENG - 28/10/22🏏

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Super 12 - Group 1

Afghanistan vs Ireland on 28/10/2022 at 1:30 PM IST at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne

Six-hitters anonymous: England and Australia still searching for the spark

To the winner, a chance to keep a route to the semi-finals in their own hands. To the loser, the mounting prospect of early elimination

Five days on from one of the most captivating tussles ever witnessed at the Grand Old G, another of international cricket's most storied rivalries takes to its oldest stage for a contest laced with a different flavour of existential jeopardy. Whereas India versus Pakistan was a clash of geopolitical magnitude, in both hype and denouement, England versus Australia offers a more fundamental sporting showdown.

To the winner, the prospect of a tournament lifeline, a chance to keep a route to the semi-finals in their own hands. To the loser, the mounting prospect of an early elimination: an ignominious fate for the holders of each of the ICC's two World Cup trophies. Even allowing for the threat of further rain-related twists, two spluttering campaigns require some urgent ignition if they are to recover the ground so far lost - in Australia's case to a crushingly one-sided loss in their opening match against New Zealand, and in England's, an oddly meek surrender in the showers against Ireland at this same venue.

For their part, Australia will hope that that ignition has already happened. At the moment of Glenn Maxwell's dismissal in the 13th over of their 158-run chase against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, they were a side without direction, as their NRR began to drift towards double figures with Aaron Finch stuck and stodgy in what he later admitted was an "unusual" knock of 31 not out from 42 balls. But then up popped Marcus Stoinis with a devastatingly straightforward bout of range-hitting - and by the time he'd blazed an Australia-record 17-ball fifty, all those doubts had been dispatched to the stands.

Stoinis struck six sixes in his 18-ball stay against Sri Lanka - more than all his team-mates combined had produced in either of Australia's first two matches of the tournament, but moreover, three times as many as England have produced in total against Group 1's supposed lesser lights, Afghanistan and Ireland. Alex Hales lumped Fazalhaq Farooqi over long-on in Perth, Moeen Ali tonked Gareth Delany in the same direction at Melbourne, three balls before the rain sealed England's fate against the Irish … and that, so far, has been that.

It's a baffling moment for Jos Buttler's team to come over all gun-shy, especially given the free-spirited mayhem that they seemed to be unleashing in their warm-up week on these shores. Australia themselves encountered the full weight of England's power-hitting in conceding 208 for 6 in Perth at the start of the month, while Liam Livingstone's six - clean out of the Gabba in their practice match against Pakistan - was widely perceived as a statement of intent from a deep and formidable batting line-up that has not been renowned for dying wondering in recent years.

Pitch Report and Weather Forecast:

ENG vs AUS match of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will take place on October 28 (Friday) at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. The match begins at 1:30 PM IST, 7 PM local time.

According to weather reports, the temperature of Melbourne city of Australia on October 28 (Friday) will be 13° Celcius during the day and fall to 10° Celcius at night. The sky will be cloudy and showers are expected throughout the day.

The chances of rain are about 92% during the day and 75% at night. Since ENG vs AUS match is scheduled to take place at night, rain is highly expected to affect the match. The humidity will be 79% during the day and rise to 84% at night.

Melbourne Cricket Stadium in Australia is an average-scoring ground in T20Is. The average 1st innings total at the stadium in T20Is is 141 while the average 2nd innings total is 128. The stadium has witnessed 21 T20Is so far. The highest-ever team total at the stadium is 184-4.

Team Watch

England

Tactics & Matchups: With the surface aiding seamers so far at the MCG, England should fancy their chances against the Australian top three, who are on the lookout for runs. Adam Zampa might draw in on his experience of bowling at the MCG over the years for Melbourne Stars but England do have a left-heavy batting lineup to negate his threat.

Probable XI: Jos Buttler (C & WK), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

Australia

Injured/Unavailable: Adam Zampa got sidelined with Covid in the Sri Lanka game but it looks like he will be back in the fold now. Matthew Wade has now been tested positive but he is expected to play as well.

Tactics & Matchups: As good as Josh Hazlewood is with the new ball, he is also a better bet than Pat Cummins at the death as evidenced in recent times. Perhaps, allowing Cummins to bowl his overs up front and in the middle and preserving Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood for the death is something Aaron Finch can ponder against a long batting line up like the one England have.

Probable XI: Aaron Finch (C), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (WK), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

What they said:

"The group is wide open because any team can win on any day. That's the thing about T20; you can't take anything for granted in a game. Afghanistan, they're a really skillful, talented side. Ireland have got the skills there. Sri Lanka on a day can beat anyone as well. So, I think the group was always going to be wide open, and it's a tough group to get through, no doubt." - Australian skipper Aaron Finch reflects on the group after Ireland's win over England

"I thought his bowling has been a real bonus for us. I think a lot of people probably underestimate his bowling coming into this tournament. And he's been key for us. I think he's bowled some big overs particularly in the power play. With the bat, he hasn't come off yet. But his career would suggest that at some point someone's going to pay a price and hopefully that's Australia in a day's time." - England head coach Matthew Mott on Ben Stokes' role in the T20 side

In the spotlight

Five matches (and a warm-up knockabout) into his T20I comeback, and there's still no real clarity on where Ben Stokes' short-form game is at. A haul of 41 runs at 10.25 from 42 balls speaks of a player still trying to get his eye back in, which - in the context of this must-win game - isn't the ideal tempo for your pivotal No .4. And yet, Stokes' many strings are manifesting themselves in other ways in the tournament so far - most notably in his unexpected but very effective role as a new-ball option. A haul of 3 for 27 in 6.2 overs is mitigated by the fact that the first (and seventh) overs are the most favourable for bowling, given that batters tend to take a moment to gauge the conditions before going hell for leather. Nevertheless, he's extracted some prodigious swing in that period, and brought his force of personality to bear in a manner that has so far been absent from his batting. At some stage, you sense his all-round game will click back into place again, but can England afford to wait for inspiration to strike?

Much of the same could be said for Australia's own No. 4, Glenn Maxwell. Patience has been worn thin in recent weeks, in which Maxwell has ground his gears in a bid for some traction but to little avail. And yet, in consecutive games against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, he's just about threatened to poke his head out the other side. Scores of 28 from 20 and 23 from 12 are hardly proof of his renewed threat. But in each game he scored as many boundaries (four) as he had managed in nine completed innings since June, and against Sri Lanka in particular, he provided the spark that Australia's chase desperately needed ahead of Stoinis's rampant finish. Like Stokes, his value extends beyond the runs he offers too. The timely wicket of Dasun Shanaka in his only over on Wednesday was a key factor in cramping Sri Lanka's ambitions.

Stats and trivia

England and Australia have met on three previous occasions at the T20 World Cup. Australia won their first encounter, in crushing fashion at Cape Town in the inaugural tournament in 2007, but have been seen off in each of the next two - in the final of the 2010 event in Barbados, and in Dubai 12 months ago, where a Buttler special sealed victory with 50 balls to spare.

Adil Rashid remains in the running to become England's first man to 100 T20I wickets, but his returns this winter have been noticeably sparse. Since claiming four wickets in his first three matches against Pakistan in Karachi, he's added just two more in eight outings, at a leaky economy rate of 8.58.

Sam Curran, by contrast, has been England's golden arm in the same period. Since the start of the Pakistan tour, he's claimed 19 wickets at 14.36 in ten matches, and in the process has more than doubled his previous T20I wickets haul of 16 at 32.00 in 21 games.

Hope this doesn't get washed out!

All the best to both teams.

AUSTRALIA VS ENGLAND HEAD-TO-HEAD IN T20 WORLD CUP

Played: 3

Australia won: 1

England won: 2

Last meeting: England won by eight wickets (Dubai; October 2021)

Previous T20 World Cup meetings

England won by seven wickets (Bridgetown; May 2010)

Australia won by eight wickets (Cape Town; September 2007)

Did you know?

Aaron Finch is the leading run getter (619 runs) in T20Is between Australia and England at an average of 47.61. On the other hand, David Warner averages just 21.07 against England.

Stoinis's batting against spin has improved big time recently. He has been remarkable against leg spin this year averaging 83 and scoring at 191. In the recent series against England, he smashed 26 off 11 balls he faced from Adil Rashid having had a negative matchup against him before the series; 20 balls - 16 runs - 3 dismissals.