 Australia will face England in the first semi-finals of the Champions Trophy
at Centurion. In what will be a repeat of the seven game series leading up to
the start of the tournament, the two sides will be meeting each other, in a more
important game than the rest, as the winners will get a chance to play the winners
of the Pakistan-New Zealand game next day.
Click for Live Score Card of Australia vs England
The Aussies have had a reasonable tournament so far. In fact, apart from a
stutter in the game against the lowly West Indies, they look like they are reasonably
well-oiled and disciplined enough. It was a pleasant surprise to find Brett Lee bowl the manner in which he did against Pakistan, because he is usually
a costly bowler and leaks many a runs. His bowling would augur well for the
Aussies in the semi-finals, against an opposition which hasn't had the best
of experiences playing him.
However, it will be the batting that would be looked up to get the necessary
runs on the board. So far, the batting has not been tested under pressure in
the competition; they batted first against India and West Indies, whereas against
Pakistan they were chasing a very low total for a win. England will look
to put the side under pressure by batting first and piling on the runs and then
having them chase the target.
The English batting will heavily rely on two of their middle-order men, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan. Collingwood hadn't had an extended run
in the ODI series against Australia, while Morgan was still getting his
eye in international cricket, but in this series, they have looked good and
should take on the challenge head-on. And if Andrew Strauss or Joe Denly
does come good, then life would be much easier for the middle order.
It will remain to be seen how the pitch behaves because that may dictate the
strategy that the English side uses for their bowlers. If there is a decent
chance of the tracks assisting the spin bowlers, and playing slower and lower
as the day progresses, then the chances of having an additional spinner in the
form of Adil Rashid are very high. Else, Graham Onions will prop
the bowling up behind James Anderson and Stuart Broad, with Collingwood
filling in a few overs as well.
All said and done, the match will be won by the side which will hold its nerves,
and with the Aussies having won the preceding series, they will carry a huge
advantage while playing against the English side.
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