🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #36: England vs Australia 🏏

What a distinct competition! One team is emerging from the ashes like a phoenix, while the other is burning there with the last vestige of hope!

One is competing for an elevated position, and the other is trying to keep their dignity intact!

🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #36: England vs Australia 🏏

Their title defense all but over, England will look for a reversal in fortunes when they meet familiar foes Australia in Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium today.

With four wins from six outings, Australia are currently third on the points table while Jos Buttler-led England is languishing at the bottom, their solitary win in six games coming against Bangladesh.

Australia and fourth-placed New Zealand are currently level on points (8) and England will need to win all their remaining three fixtures to get to eight points and only then will net run rate and other permutations to come into the picture.

Another motivation for England will be to finish in the top eight and qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy set to take place in Pakistan.

Perhaps more than the losses themselves, England will be haunted by the manner of their defeats.

In six games, they have batted their full 50 overs only twice — against New Zealand in their opening game in Ahmedabad, and against Bangladesh in Dharamsala, where Dawid Malan got England's only hundred of the tournament so far.

Australia began their campaign with consecutive losses but the five-time champions soon found their bearings and are coming into today's match on the back of a four-match unbeaten run.

Led by the seasoned David Warner (413 runs at an average of 68.83), they have racked up 367/9, 399/8, and 388 in their last three matches.

The absence of big-hitting dup Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell though will put their firepower to the test.

"Yeah, it's not ideal. Both have been star players of the tournament at different times," Australia skipper Pat Cummins said.

The 30-year-old pacer also expressed surprise over England's rotten run. "They've got some class players and performed really well in these kinds of tournaments over the last few years. A little bit surprised in terms of what's gone wrong, but these tournaments are pretty fickle, sometimes the best-looking teams just don't start off well and then find it hard to kind of gain ground," he said.

Tag Credit: Sutapasima

The defending champions are heading into this match on the back of a four-match losing streak. Their last four losses have been against Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India.

The losses have been by big margins which is why they are placed at the bottom of the table.

Former England cricketers have targeted the management and the coach Matthew Mott. There are talks of the coach being removed after this disastrous World Cup campaign.

The loss to Afghanistan under Mott exposed England’s weakness to playing spin in Indian conditions.

While England have been struggling, Australia have been on the rise. They are on a four-match winning streak. Their last win was against the Kiwis in a high-scoring encounter by five runs after scoring 388.

The team is peaking at the right time but still has a few concerns.

Australia after their first two defeats have won four games on the trot. They have been peaking at the right time with David Warner scoring runs consistently.

Steve Smith has played his part and the return of Travis Head has added muscle to the batting lineup. Meanwhile, for this game, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh are unavailable. While Maxwell is nursing a freak injury, Marsh has returned home due to personal reasons.

Among the bowlers, Adam Zampa has been the top wicket-taker with 16 wickets. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood have played their part and need to be at their best against England.

A win against England will take Australia to 10 points and a step closer to the semi-final berth.

Thanks for the tag

Interesting interactions between two captains !!!

Cummins, true to form, dismissed the pre-match talk and spoke about being immune to them, having played in these matches for nearly a decade.

"There's always banter before any game (between Australia and England). So, I think you're immune to it. You know that cricket speaks for itself. Everything else is just preamble and noise to a game that everyone's really excited about," he said.

They might not have had a drink with each other at The Oval post the Ashes as opposing captains, but for once both Cummins and Stokes did agree upon something, with the senior England player too playing down some of the lead-up talk.

"There's always a bit more chatter when England play Australia and whatever it is. So yeah, you just see it and I understand why. It's a bit like when India and Pakistan come and play each other. There's always going to be that rivalry," he said.

What to expect: At around 9 pm a couple of nights, the outfield at the Narendra Modi stadium was drenched. So much so that your footwear was soaked in dew as you walked across the outfield post Australia's training session. And this will be the first match here since the India-Pakistan clash three weeks ago. Expect dew to play quite a role then, which will have a say on what the team winning the toss does decide to do. The temperatures are dropping ever so slightly but the day session of the match will be hot and challenging. The pitch to be used, meanwhile, is expected to be the one that was used for the World Cup opener that England lost to New Zealand, so expect some runs.

Australia

Probable XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

England

Probable XI: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c&wk), Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

I really hope England wins this game..

High time to show some mettle

Australia

Australia are bizarrely yet to have all 15 players of the squad available for any game so far in this World Cup. And just when it looked like they were on course to do that, Glenn Maxwell slipped and fell off the back of a golf cart while Mitchell Marsh has left for Perth for family reasons. And with Alex Carey and Sean Abbott unexpected to get the nod, there'll be a return for both Marcus Stoinis, from a calf injury, and Cameron Green, after being left out for the last match against New Zealand.

Tactics & Strategy:

With Australia yet to play the same XI for two straight games, there'll be an umpteenth shuffle in the batting order with Steve Smith going back to his favoured No. 3 and Marnus Labuschagne regaining his No. 4 position. The onus will be on Green and Stoinis to provide the firepower in the lower order in the absence of Maxwell. Australia will go hard like they have with David Warner and Travis Head at the top while they'll hope for Mitchell Starc, who's yet to have a big game with the ball, to get his radar right after an off day in Dharamsala.

Team watch

England

With their bowlers coming through in the game against India, it is unlikely that England will make any changes to their attack. And it's unlikely that they'll leave out one of their senior players out, which is the only way Harry Brook could come into the side.

Tactics & Strategy:

Well, as Stokes put it on Friday (November 3), there's really no solution that the team has identified to the multitude of problems that have resulted in England's forgettable campaign. The tactics and strategy will revolve around basic plans like their batters finally scoring some runs and make sure that their bowlers have either something meaningful to defend or that they make a good fist of however well their bowlers go.

England played their last game against India where they lost that game by 100 runs.

Liam Livingstone managed to score 27 runs for England in that game. On the other hand, Australia played their last match against New Zealand and they won the game by 5 runs. David Warner and Travis Head hammered 81 runs and 109 runs respectively for Australia in that game.

These two teams have played 155 games against each other in this format so far, where England won 87 matches while Australia managed to win 63 games.

Probable Best Batter:

David Warner (Australia)

Ace Australian opener David Warner could be the best batter in game 36 of the ODI World Cup 2023. Being in sensational form, Warner has been one of the best batters for his side. Scoring 584 runs in his last 10 games, Warner’s knock could prove to be key.

Probable best bowler:

Adam Zampa (Australia)

Australian spinner Adam Zampa could be the best bowler in game 36 of the ODI World Cup 2023. Just like his compatriots, Zampa has been in exceptional form as well, taking 22 wickets in his last nine games. Zampa’s spell will be a big threat to England.

Disclaimer: The prediction is based on the understanding, analysis, and instinct of the author. While making your prediction, consider the points mentioned, and make your own decision.