Lahore, Feb 21: An off-colour England and an injury-hit Australia will be eager to start their Champions Trophy campaign on a winning note in what seems like an evenly-matched Group B contest between the Ashes rivals here on Saturday.
Both teams have struggled in the ODI format recently, with world champions Australia losing to Sri Lanka (0-2) and Pakistan (1-2) in their last two rubbers.
England, who are now coached by Brendon McCullum in all formats, have not won an ODI series since their disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign.
The Jos Buttler-led side is coming off a 0-3 drubbing by India, where they appeared out of sorts and failed to match up to the hosts.
Both teams will be eager to make their mark in this ICC showpiece event.
Australia had the upper hand against their Ashes rivals the last time they faced off in England, winning a five-match series 3-2 in September last year.
However, much has changed since then, with the world champions missing five key players from their initial squad.
Their pace attack will be particularly affected, as they will be without their famed trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc, all ruled out of the tournament.
They will also be without all-rounders Mitchell Marsh (back injury), Cameron Green (injury) and Marcus Stoinis, who has made a shock retirement from the format after featuring in the initial squad for the tournament.
In such a scenario, it remains to be seen whether Australia, under stand-in skipper Steve Smith, can replicate their past success in what is often referred to as a ‘mini’ World Cup.
With Marsh absent, Smith is likely to come in at No. 3 and will carry the batting workload for a side that won this tournament consecutively in 2006 and 2009.
All eyes will be on explosive white-ball opener Travis Head, who had scores of 101 and 89 at this very venue during their 2022 series.
Head also smashed a career-best 154 not out at Trent Bridge against England in last year’s series, making him a significant threat.
As a possible counter-strategy, England have named a three-pronged pace attack featuring Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, and Brydon Carse, supplemented by the spin of Adil Rashid.
“They’re pretty much all-out fast bowling with Adil (Rashid, the leg-spinner) being their banker – he’s high quality, and doesn’t go underrated in this room – but there’s so much excitement around Wood, Jofra, Carse and (Gus) Atkinson,” head told ‘cricket.com.au’.
“We’re going to have to make sure we start well against them. As an opening batter, how I can counteract that and how I play against that is a great challenge.” England have also included rising wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith, who is likely to bat at No. 3.
With the wicket expected to favour batting, Ben Duckett, who looked in explosive form against India, will look to provide a strong start, while Joe Root will be the batting backbone.
Root, who was England’s second-leading run-getter behind Duckett in the India series, will look to make a significant impact here.
England, seeking their maiden Champions Trophy title, are choosing not to dwell on their recent struggles in India.
“Regardless of what happened in India, we’ve got that belief that we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the world-class players, the match-winners in the squad to win the tournament,” Rashid said.
Match starts: 2.30PM IST. (PTI)
