SOUTHAMPTON: England, West Indies, Ireland and Pakistan done. Australia next. Aaron Finch’s men will become the next international team to resume duties when they take on England in a three-match Twenty20 International series starting on Friday (today) here at the Ageas Bowl. Australia have had a few intra-squad matches, and their players will be itching for some international action, which they haven’t had since mid-March when the scheduled ODI series against New Zealand was abandoned. “The way the players have hit the ground running has been really exciting,” Finch said before the match. “I know not just me but everyone is just absolutely pumped to be playing international cricket again.” It might be easily forgotten, but Australia are the No. 1 ranked side in T20 International cricket. They’ve never won the T20 World Cup – something they put down to not taking the format seriously. This year would have been a great chance considering it was scheduled for home but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed it. Nevertheless, Australia will be hoping to build a team for the 2021 tournament scheduled in India.
More importantly, they’d look to get back in action, and what better way than a series against England, their arch rivals. England are No. 2 in the ranking and are just coming off a 1-1 series draw against Pakistan. They’ve got their full strength squad in for this series, with the likes of Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler returning. Ben Stokes, who is in New Zealand for personal reasons, continues to stay out. Australia have come with full strength and will be determined to have a hit. Finch has already spoken about aiming for the final of the T20 World Cup, and this will be the first step in that direction. A bulk of their players will be focusing on white ball cricket for a while now, with the ODI series and the IPL to follow.
Apart from Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler, England also have Mark Wood returning from the Test bubble. Apart from Stokes, Jason Roy is also out with an injury. Joe Root has been left out of the squad. The experience of David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith, and some young takent in Josh Philippe, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey. Similar mix of youth and experience in the pace unit with the likes of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc along with Daniel Sams. Australia have on paper a strong unit that can challenge the England side at home. Good news on the weather front –– expect a clear day on Friday with no rain.
Squads:
England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.