T20 World Cup 2024: England eye first win against arch-rivals Australia

Jofra Archer and Pat Cummins

Defending champions England will look to restitch their T20 World Cup campaign through an improved bowling effort when they face ‘old' rivals Australia in a Group B match here on Saturday.

England's opening game against Scotland was rained off after the latter made 90 for no loss in 10 overs, forcing the teams to take home a point each.

But even those 60 balls showed the need for England to buckle up in the bowling department, to begin with.

Scottish openers George Munsey and Michael Jones scored freely against all England bowlers, and Australia carry far more lethal guns in their line-up.

Also Read: Will Iga reign in Paris once again?

David Warner and Marcus Stoinis showed the extent of damage they can do while outclassing Oman in their tournament opener.

Once again, there will be a lot of focus on Jofra Archer, who gave away 12 runs in two overs against Scotland, as the pacer continues his comeback trail into top-flight cricket. But bowling is just one part, as the English batters under skipper Jos Buttler, who had a good run in the IPL 2024, will have to fire in unison against the Aussie attack.

The Australian bowlers were potent against Oman even without Pat Cummins, who had a reasonable outing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

Nathan Ellis played ahead of Cummins in that game, but Australia might bring back the premier pacer against a much more formidable opponent.

While Australia's batting looks settled, the misfiring Glenn Maxwell remains a missing link. After enduring a shipwreck of an IPL campaign with Royal Challengers Bengaluru recently, the ‘Big Show' got out for a first-ball duck against Oman.

Live Today
>> Afghanistan v New Zealand: Star Sports 2, 3, HD, 05:00
>> Bangladesh v Sri Lanka: Star Sports 1, SS 1 Hindi, HD, 06:00
>> The Netherlands v South Africa: Star Sports 1, SS 1 Hindi, 2, 3, HD, 20:00
>> England v Australia: Star Sports 1, SS 1 Hindi, 2, 3, HD, 22:30

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.