Eoin Morgan says Australia ‘probably one of our most difficult games’ and the two sides share similar T20 strengths
When Eoin Morgan described Saturday’s match against Australia as “probably one of our most difficult games in this group stage” it sounded very much like damnation with faint praise. England have after all turned their first two outings of the Twenty20 World Cup into such gentle processions that future opponents would have to be pretty lamentable not to clear that hurdle.
But in Australia they come up against a side that, like them, has won their first two matches, and one that impressed in all areas of the game against Sri Lanka on Thursday evening. The sides share several characteristics: a stocky, ball-flaying opener who got 60-odd in his last outing in England’s Jason Roy and Australia’s David Warner; a leg-spinner who can make a difference in the middle overs in Adil Rashid and Adam Zampa; a desire, as Australia’s Pat Cummins put it, “to take the game on”; and the clear preference – shared by many at this tournament – to bat second.
