Moment of truth for sides’ bowlers

MARCUS Stoinis’s historic innings in Perth helped release the pressure valve on Australia at the perfect time as Ireland subsequently exposed the chinks in England’s armour ahead of a do-or-die meeting with the old enemy at the MCG on Friday.

Group 1 was rocked by the Poms’ shock loss to Ireland and the New Zealand-Afghanistan washout that followed has blown the semi-final race wide open.

The spotlight remains on Aussie skipper Aaron Finch after his snail’s pace knock at Optus Stadium and calls for Steve Smith to return to the side continue to find voice.

But Fox Cricket expert and former England women’s international Isa Guha believes it’s the battle of the bowlers that could decide the outcome on Friday and it’s there that, when the whips are cracking, Australia has the edge.

Pat Cummins was hit for 20 off the final over against Sri Lanka and it’s unlikely he will be handed the ball to end England’s innings on Friday. Thankfully for the Aussies Finch has options beyond Cummins, while the same cannot be said for Jos Buttler, says Guha.

“Depth is important in T20 cricket in terms of death overs bowling. Sometimes you can be having an off day and you need to turn to someone else and that’s where Finch has the luxury of having (Josh) Hazelwood and (Mitchell) Starc,” Guha said. “That’s possibly more of a concern for England because they’ve lost Reece Topley on the eve of the tournament and he was their go-to death bowler.

“You can’t just rely on Sam Curran, you’ll have to find overs from others and that, I think, would be my only concern from an England point of view.

“You have to get overs into Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills at some stage.”