ICC World Cup: England to take on Australia will be held at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad
In ICC World Cup, England and Australia will be held at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad at 2.00 PM this afternoon.
“We’ve been crap.” Ben Stokes couldn’t have summed up England at this World Cup better. For that matter, nor could have anyone else in the English camp or anyone else who has had to endure their terribly awful progress in this tournament so far. For, they have been nothing but “crap”. And it’s been notable in how rapidly the interest around the defending champions has faded away despite them having been among many experts’ favourites to go all the way again.
In that sense, the clash against Australia couldn’t have come at a better time for this deflated and disillusioned England team. If nothing, it does at least induce some sort of interest and energy into the contest, even if it might not have an impact on their campaign. You don’t have to wait for the match to start either though. As expected there’s been a lot of chatter and ‘banter’ from both camps in the lead-up to the match, which because it’s Australia v England, are bereft of any connection to where the two teams are currently placed on the points table.
So, what if the best barb among those fired between the two teams happens to have come from England’s Test captain and superstar about his own ODI team on the eve of the match. There are no prizes for guessing the narratives from the Ashes that have been carried forward here.
It doesn’t help that the last couple of weeks have seen more reactions float through about some of those incidents from three months ago in England. Jonny Bairstow and his stumping at Lord’s in the second Test leading the way. But there’s also been a lot of jokes doing the rounds about England’s quest for a “moral victory” that did do the rounds incessantly during the Ashes. And a moral victory is the best that Jos Buttler and his team can aim for at this stage of their beleaguered campaign. A win for them could also potentially derail Australia’s hopes of confirming their place in the semi-finals, even if at the moment Pat Cummins’s team are best placed to get there from their third position.
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.
England might have been “crap” for the last three weeks, but with their defence of their world title now more or less done, they do have a chance to forget about how bad they’ve been and briefly feel good about themselves, at least for a day, if they can spoil the party for the Australians. And that will be motivation alone for Buttler & Co. today.
Squads:
England Squad: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Sam Curran, Harry Brook, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse
Australia Squad: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Sean Abbott
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