The Australia-England match in Ahmedabad on Saturday could have been one of the marquee clashes of this World Cup, but clouds of a one-sided contest hang over the game.
The oldest rivalry in cricket more often than not produces enthralling affairs, but thanks to an off-colour England, who are the defending champions, one fears that Australia may simply run over Jos Buttler’s team.
So pathetic has been the performance of England — they are rock bottom in the 10-team tournament with just one win to show — that it has left even Australia captain Pat Cummins puzzled.
“They’ve got some class players and performed really well in these kind 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,” Cummins said.
While England have nothing but prestige to play for, Australia will hope to take a firmer step towards the semis with a win on Saturday. They have 8 points and are placed third in the standings, but with New Zealand and Afghanistan also on the same number of points, it will be important for them to move ahead of the pack.
Joe Root interacts with schoolchildren on the sidelines of England practice on Friday. PTI photo
‘15 not enough’
While Australia are playing well, things might be a little difficult for them without two of their key players. Australia will not have the services of an injured Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh, who has returned home citing personal reasons.
Captain Cummins thinks that teams should have been allowed more players instead of 15 in the squad considering this World Cup’s duration.
“Yeah, to be honest. It’s a two-month tournament. You wouldn’t want to be in a position like New Zealand. They have had some injuries... It’s not like you can poach players from other countries, so I always think you should be able to pick from as many players as you need,” Cummins said.
With inputs from PTI
