Australia’s gun new-ball pair of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins will today engage in a tantalising battle with England’s brutal top order in a high-stakes World Cup warm-up match at Southampton.
It may seem hyperbolic to use the term “high stakes” to describe a practice match but this is about as serious as World Cup warm-up fixtures ever get.
Beyond the always-fierce rivalry between the Ashes opponents, there are other hefty reasons both Australia and England will be desperate to win today’s match.
Australia will be determined to try to exact some revenge for the 9-1 flogging handed to them by England across back-to-back, home-and-away five-match ODI series last year. England, meanwhile, would dearly love to burst the bubble of the rejuvenated Aussies, who are on an eight-match winning streak in ODIs.
The Ashes rivals will meet again in the World Cup in exactly one month from now, in a match which could prove crucial to both side’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals. Which all helps explain why today’s match is unusually important for a warm-up fixture.
The most intriguing element of today’s game will be how Australia’s strong bowling attack can cope with England’s incredibly-destructive batting line-up.
Never before in ODI history has a team churned out massive scores as regularly as this England side. They make scoring 350 look elementary and passing 400 is their constant aim.
Australia are intimately familiar with the carnage they can create with blade in hand. Last year England piled up a gobsmacking 6-481 against Australia in an ODI at Trent Bridge, smashing the record for the highest team total.
That victory was part of England’s 5-0 humiliation of Australia, which came just months after they hammered them 4-1 down under.
While England were by far the superior side across both of those series, Australia often were undermanned.
The Australian cricket team. (AAP Image/David Mariuz)
That was particularly so in the series in the UK when Australia was without star batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith, and key bowlers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Starc and Cummins are arguably the best pace duo in ODI cricket. The tall left armer was Player in the Tournament as Australia won the last World Cup and has a phenomenal ODI record of 145 wickets at 21.
Cummins, meanwhile, is in career-best form in this format. As Australia won back-to-back ODI series in India and Pakistan this year Cummins dominated with 17 wickets at 14.
The tall right armer has carried that form into Australia’s four recent practice matches, during which he has grabbed nine wickets at 11. Cummins also owns a good record against England in ODIs, with 22 wickets at 27.
Starc, meanwhile, does not boast this same form or momentum. It is more than six months since he played his last ODI.
The 29-year-old has been limited to just 10 ODIs since February 2017 due to both injury and Australia’s desire to protect his fragile body. This past month, however, Starc has finally been taken out of cotton wool and is beginning to show signs of returning to his fearsome best.
He reportedly has been clocked at 150km/h in Australia’s practice matches, during which he has taken five wickets at 16.
Video highlights from those matches have shown Starc operating with encouraging rhythm. But it will be a whole new challenge bowling to England’s intimidating batting unit.
So many batting weapons do England possess that it’s easy to forget about Joe Root. The Test skipper has a sensational ODI record, with 5,300 runs at 50, yet he gets overshadowed by the frequent blitzkriegs of teammates Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan.
Each of those four batsmen has the ability to come to the crease and immediately cut loose. With Root anchoring the innings, the more dynamic English batsmen have the freedom to attack relentlessly.
Starc and Cummins badly need to make the most of the new ball today to avoid spinner Adam Zampa and Australia’s all-rounders from having to bowl to well-set English batsmen intent on wreaking destruction.
The prospect of that Aussie pace pair fired up and going hard at the English top order is enough to whet the appetite of any cricket fan. Which is why today’s fixture in Southampton is more than just a practice match.
Peter Warrington
Guest
yes warner however coming home for a week after blazing in INdia - never understood it. send him to england same as maxwell what was that al about?
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Smith looks minted. Crash Craddock was on Bris radio talking about the difference, saying that Smith needed the comeback into Aus colours to hit his straps.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Looks like both sides decided to keep powder dry. No Starc, Cummins, Maxwell, Woakes, Rashid, Archer, Morgan. Both sides can shrug off a loss. But England’s second string bowlers better than ours, so kudos if we can win today.
Peter Warrington
Guest
not sure it is cricket but sure;y a few bruised fingers and wrists among 1-6 for England works in our favour? is there a gentleman's agreement in place?
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Playing devil’s advocate, while it might be good to get one over England in a warm up, could there be also a case for keeping some of the powder dry, particularly with some of our bowlers, so they don’t get too much of a sighter?. I know they’ve played us a fair bit before, but the current English lineup hasn’t seen the best of Starc or Cummins, nor of Zappa. Maybe keep one of the first two and Zampa in reserve and give Behrendorff and Lyon a run. Southampton seems to turn everyone into cannon fodder, whereas it might be a different story when they play at Lords in the round robin. Surely worth thinking about if you were the Aussie thin tank?
Philgb
Guest
They beat Australia 5-0 and India 2-1 last year? The only attack they haven't faced and beaten yet is SA. I've said this time and time again England's biggest weakness is variation with slower bowl bouncers, wide yorkers and generally bowling mixed pace back of a length, you have to keep them guessing. If any side no matter whether its Rabada or Starc comes and bowls length or full looking for nicks or lbw then the England top 7 will hammer every ball just like they did to Aus last year. The pitches in England this summer are roads designed for their power hitters so unless sides use clever variations and keep them guessing it's always going to be 400 in their sights. Bowl with no pace and lots of variation and they could get frustrated at not hitting the ball out the park and collapse quite quickly.
Gurlivleen Grewal
Roar Pro
It doesn't really matter what happens in this warm up - teams try their combinations, English batters will be playing without pressure. Also, Australia might open with NCN instead of Cummins. I for one am looking forward to and expect England to struggle against the best bowling sides - Aus, SA, Ind - England are yet to play their brand of aggression against a very good attack. Their long batting line up could bail them out but it won't be like that vs Pakistan.
BurgyGreen
Guest
Starc is still very good but I'm not sure we'll ever see him bowl like he did in the 2015 World Cup again. That was one of the most insanely good tournament performances in history. Inswinging 150kph yorkers at will, made some of the world's best batsmen look clueless. Fortunately Cummins has really come on as an ODI bowler over the last 12 months. It's just such a shame that Jhye got injured when he did, Starc/Cummins/J. Richardson was shaping up to be a very very good World Cup pace attack. NCN is quality though and I'm sure he'll be a solid replacement. What's probably interested me most in our recent warm-ups is that Smith has built up some really good form while Warner has largely struggled, the complete opposite to how they were going during their bans and in the IPL.
AREH
Roar Guru
They’ll be treating this warm-up match about as seriously as possible, there will be some intensity about it. Your point about chasing totals against England makes sense, as no matter how daunting the target, most sides have 1-2 bats who could help knock that off with a mammoth innings at a blistering strike rate. Australia have it with Warner and Maxwell, India with their top three + Pandya, Fakhar at the top is to Pakistan what de Kock is to RSA, NZ with Guptill, and we know about the raw power of the Windies.
Paul
Roar Guru
I don't disagree Nudge, but this was the views of a couple of ex-skippers. The context was the ease with England chasing down massive totals against Pakistan, which makes sense, but as you suggest, 250 might be a par score in knockout when pressure and quality bowling can do funny things to teams.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Too right Paul. Potentially one the most intense practice games we're ever likely to see. I feel that our boys would love to get in a jab or two before the main bout even starts. Presumably the poms are the same.
Nudge
Roar Rookie
Absolutely no way in the world would I be batting second in a World Cup semi final or Final. Give me runs on the board. 250 would be an extremely tough chase in a final in my opinion.
Graham
Guest
Good for the rehab of starc warner and smith but may not mean much if the icc prepare different pitches to the ecb
Paul
Roar Guru
It's the sort of game where we have much to gain and little to lose (unless we get flogged), but an English loss would certainly throw open the doors for other teams to follow our lead. I'll bet the guys from both sides won't be treating this as a practice match, Bob.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Could be one of the most meaningful practice matches in years from our perspective. Can't be sure what the poms feel about it but there is potentially a lot to gain for us. .. Good luck fella's. Get in there and really mix it with them.
Paul
Roar Guru
Hopefully the Aussies will be starting to play on pitches more like what they should get in the actual Cup. If Southampton is like that, it should give us a reasonable idea about the side's progress, regardless of the outcome. I also heard an interesting chat during the Pakistan/England series where Atherton and Hussein were in agreement England should always bat second because they could always chase a total. I wonder if sides will make them bat first to see what they're like at defending a score - obviously good against Pakistan but they just got beaten by the Afghanis.