Champions Trophy, ENG vs AUS Live: The arch-rivals will taken on each other at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore to start off their campaign on Saturday (Feb 22) in Champions Trophy. Both the teams are coming off an ODI series whitewash. England lost 0-3 to India while Australia lost 0-2 to Sri Lanka.
With only three group games available to each team, the loss in first game makes the rest of the two matches virtual do-or-die. Both England and Australia would be aiming to start with a win and get the ball rolling.
Australia, the current ODI World Cup winners, are without some major players including pace-trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Their batting also hasn’t exuded much confidence but underestimating Australia in ICC tournaments is a recipe for disasters.
For England, their Bazball era in white-ball format hasn’t started as well as they would have liked. The Jos Buttler-led side, however, is capable of turning things around on any given day. With Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Saqib Mahmood in ranks along with street-smart Adil Rashid, they can overwhelm Australia batting line-up.
Whatever may be the result, the contest promises to be a blockbuster on before OG blockbuster match India vs Pakistan on Sunday (Feb 23) in Dubai.