This is a rerun of the 2019 semi-final, where England ran roughshod over Australia. That was in Birmingham. Australia made 223 and that total was eclipsed with plenty to spare.
Now, it is not a semi-final. The stage is Ahmedabad and things look very, very different. A resurgent Australia look ready to trample over an under-siege England. A look at the points table — England 10th out of 10, and Australia up to third – tells a story.
Yes, Australia might be under strength because they will miss some of their main players due to different reasons. So might England. It will not make any difference in how the teams will be placed after the match. England will go home. Australia will stay alive in the competition.
Mitch Marsh missing? Yes. Someone else like Glenn Maxwell ruled out after an off-field accident? Yes. Any difference? No. England might win this match but that will not change the equations. This is a dead rubber. As dead as a doornail.
This Australian resurgence must be commended. They came back from a position where they looked buried. Credit goes to David Warner, others and, of course, Pat Cummins, the peerless captain of this team. He stood tall when things looked gone. He said ‘no, it is not’ and the team believed. No matter where the Australian team finishes, Cummins will remain a hero.
When it comes to heroes, England are shorn of those. There could have been many of them. Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Mark Wood and more. When the time came, they flopped. The injury to Ben Stokes and his on-and-off appearances was a huge blow. He is a key man.
But then, when a team starts depending so overwhelmingly on one man, it dips into trouble. Stokes must be a towering figure, not the only one. There should have been others who stepped up. That did not happen. That is why England are a non-starter in what was marked as a marquee match of the World Cup at a marquee venue.
Pity or poetic justice? Judge for yourself.
Time and Venue Details
November 4. From 14:00 IST. Narendra Modi Stadium. Ahmedabad.
Expected Conditions
A good pitch to bat on and score runs. Weather not much of a concern.
Possible XIs
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
Match-ups
Chris Woakes against David Warner: Woakes showed glimpses of his best against India, while Warner has shown throughout the competition that he’s still very much at home on the biggest stage.
Team Speaks
“I mean, the good thing is we’re still three games away from the semis. We need to obviously make the semi-finals, but hopefully this is kind of the last little kind of hiccup where we’ve got a smaller squad to pick from and then once we get closer, we’ve got a full squad.” – Pat Cummins, Australia captain.
“I look at this team and it’s more than capable of achieving way more than it has done throughout this tournament. This group of players have three opportunities to play at the level we expect of ourselves: I fully believe we are more than capable of doing that on Saturday.” –
Joe Root, England batter.