The Aussies have life! Australia’s T20 World Cup hopes were reignited as England lost to Ireland in Group 1 on Wednesday. Australia will take on England in a monster clash from the MCG on Friday night, with the winner gaining a massive advantage when it comes to knockout stage qualification.
We have you covered with a full preview and cricket betting tips for the clash below and remember to head to our Cricket Tips page for regular updates throughout the T20 World Cup and Australian summer of cricket.
T20 World Cup Australia vs England Betting Tips
MCG, Friday 27th October 7.00pm (AEDT)
Australia
Things were looking grim for Australia when they were obliterated by New Zealand in their opening game of the tournament. A bounce back a win against Sri Lanka and a shock England loss to Ireland, however, has brought them new life in Group 1, now only needing to win the rest of their games to book a ticket into the knockout stage.
They were impressive with both bat and ball against the Sri Lankans, particularly Marcus Stoinis, who played a fantastic match winning innings by belting 59 off just 18 balls to steer Australia to a five wicket victory with 21 balls to spare.
Predicted XI: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade, Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa/Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood
I think it’s probably unlikely that the Aussies make a change to their line-up for this game outside of the possible inclusion of Adam Zampa for Ashton Agar after the former missed the win over Sri Lanka due to Covid. For the record, I think dropping both Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins and bringing in Cameron Green to open the batting and Adam Zampa as a 2nd spinner is the right move here.
England
England recorded a comfortable win over Afghanistan in their opening game of the tournament but things came unstuck in their Wednesday afternoon clash against Ireland. The Duckworth-Lewis system was the catalyst of their defeat as rain stopped play with England at 5/105 needing 52 runs off the last 5.3 overs to claim victory.
England were outplayed for the vast majority of that game, so I think the Duckworth-Lewis system got this one right. It puts them in a precarious position in Group 1, but a win over Australia would go a long way to securing their chances for a knockout stage berth.
Predicted XI: Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Again, not sure if any changes will be made to the side that England has gone with for both of their games so far. Harry Brook making way for Phil Salt seems the only potential change.
Betting Tips
Australia is getting some home-town love from the punters here, so much so that they are starting as favourites against the No.2 T20 team in the world in England. Sure, the Poms faltered hard in that game against Ireland but along with India, they are still leaps and bounds in front of the rest of the world when it comes to the shortest format of the game. Despite their loss to Ireland, I think they are great value to bounce back against the Aussies here. England have had the wood over Australia in recent T20 history, winning six of their last seven games in a range of different conditions.
David Warner averages a very healthy 33.33 in T20 internationals but in 14 games against England that average drops to just 21.07. He has failed to score 10+ in six of his last eight games against the Poms and his T20 World Cup hasn’t got off to a hot start, scoring just 5 and 11 in his two innings. I’ll be taking his unders here.
David Warner Under 27.5 Runs ($1.88 at Sportbet)
Jos Buttler has thrived against Australia in T20 internationals and has a lot of experience in Australian conditions with multiple seasons played in the BBL. The superstar opener averages 33.73 in T20I but against Australia that average rises to a whopping 45.17 in 15 games. In his last 8 games against Australia, he has scored 46, 61, 44, 77*, 71*, 68, 17 and 65*, averaging 89.8 points in that period.
Jos Buttler Over 25.5 Runs ($1.86 at Sportsbet)
