England, Australia renew old rivalry on T20 battlefield
One of England's most extraordinary seasons will end with them facing archrivals Australia as both sides try to strike a balance between playing their strongest limited-overs teams and keeping an eye on the future.
The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic threatened to wipe out England's entire home season yet they are now set to complete all 18 scheduled men's internationals, albeit the fixtures have been played behind closed doors.
They face Australia in three Twenty20 Internationals at the Ageas Bowl, starting from Friday, before taking on their oldest foes in three Oneday Inter nationals at Old Trafford in Manchester later this month. The Twenty20s should have served as preparation for October's T20 World Cup in Australia but the Covid-19 outbreak means the next edition of the global showpiece will take place in India in 2021. That does give both teams time to fine-tune their line-ups but equally they may want to give their strongest XIs as much as time as they can in their middle.
Australia are currently the world's top-ranked T20 side, with much of their success built on a top order featuring captain Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith. So even though the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Marnus Labuschagne have been in the runs during Australia's warmup matches in England, they are unlikely to displace the three premier batsmen. "We've had a pretty settled T20 side over the last 12 months or so and all we can ask for is that guys bang so hard they are putting pressure on the guys in there," said Australia head coach Justin Langer, who can also call upon Glenn Maxwell in the middle-order after he took a break to deal with mental health issues.
England beat Australia in the semi-finals on the way to winning last year's 50-over World Cup and white-ball captain Eoin Morgan believes consistency of selection is important if they are to replicate that triumph in the T20 equivalent. "I don't think we can have a scenario where we can play the majority of our games with a halfstrength team and then expect to go into a World Cup as contenders.