T20 Match No. 17, Australia vs. England
T20 Match No. 17, Australia vs. England

The T20 World Cup 2024 has long started. The US and the West Indies are together hosting this year’s Men’s T20 World Cup. Today, the mighty Australia is set to take on England, the champions of last edition’s T20 World Cup. This will be match number 17 in the total of 55 matches in the tournament. The match will be played at Kensington Oval, Barbados. The match between Australia and England will start at 10:30 PM Indian Standard Time.

Both Team’s Form in the T20 World Cup 2024

Both teams have started their campaign and played one match each in the group stage of the tournament. England’s first match of the group stage was against Scotland. Scotland was smashing England, but the match was washed out with no result. England performed like they did in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Scotland had smashed 90 runs in 10 overs without losing a wicket against England’s strong bowling lineup of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, and Moeen Ali. Because of poor performance in the ODI World Cup 2023, England players are under pressure to perform up to their level.

Turning to Australia’s form, they look good. The team stumbled but managed to win against Oman. While batting first, Australia was struggling on three wickets with 50 runs in nine overs, but later, Marcus Stoinis took charge. Opener David Warner made 56 runs, but with 51 balls. Glenn Maxwell’s poor form continued, as he went for a duck on the first ball without scoring. In batting, only Marcus Stoinis performed well by quickly firing 67 off just 36 balls with six sixes and two fours. This helped Assuies post a total of 164 with 5 wickets in 20 overs.

Australia’s bowlers always do good in ICC tournaments. The bowling lineup includes Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood, Adam, Zampa, and Nathan Ellis restricted Oman to 125 with the loss of 9 wickets. Allrounder Stoinis took 3 wickets by giving away 19 runs in 3 overs, Starc took 2 wickets in 3 overs, Zampa took 2 wickets in 4 overs, and Ellis also took 2 wickets in 4 overs. All the bowlers except Ellis had an economy rate of 6 or less. Australia won by 39 runs because of an excellent performance by their bowlers.

Squads of Australia and England

Australia’s captain, Mitchell Marsh. Pic for representational purposes

Australia: Because Pat Cummins was rested against Oman, chances are high that he will play in this high-voltage match. The 11-member squad will be revealed at the time of the toss, but the 15-member Australian squad is as follows:

David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (C), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (WK), Josh Inglis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Ashton Agar, and Cameroon Green.

England: The 11-member squad will be revealed at the time of the toss, but England’s 15-member squad is as follows:

Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (C & WK), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingston, Sam Curran, Reece Topley, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Tom Heartly, and Mark Wood.

Tonight’s clash is high voltage with both the teams having T20 specialists on their side. They just need to perform well tonight. For that, Kensington Oval’s pitch will play a major role.