Our featured match in Group 1 of Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup on Friday is a big one as Australia and England clash in Melbourne.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Australia v England, Melbourne
Group 1 remains very open with New Zealand, 1 win and 1 no result, the only unbeaten side whilst England and Australia have 1 win and 1 defeat against their name, making this a very significant match.
Australia were thrashed by New Zealand by 89 runs at the SCG in the opening match of the tournament, bowled out for 111 when chasing 201 for victory.
They bounced back in their second match with a 7 wicket win over Sri Lanka in Perth on Tuesday. Sri Lanka made 157/6 batting first with 5 Australian bowlers all taking 1 wicket each. The chase was completed in 16.3 overs, largely due to Marcus Stoinis who smashed 59 off 18 balls with four 4's and six maximums.
This was how Australia lined up last time out,
David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood
England started with a 5 wicket win over Afghanistan in Perth. Sam Curran took 5 wickets for just 10 runs as Afghan were all out for 112 and Livingstone was 29 not out as England got home in 18.1 overs.
England were then overwhelming favourites for their game against Ireland at this venue on Wednesday but they lost by 5 runs (DLS). Ireland posted 157 all out in 19.2 overs and at 105/5 in 14.3 overs England were just behind on DLS when the rain came.
This was how England lined up against Ireland
Jos Buttler (c & wk), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Head to Head
The teams have met 23 times in this format with Australia winning 10 to England's 11 with 2 no results.
A 3 match series in Australia earlier this month saw England win the first 2 matches, both by 8 run margins, and no result was possible in the third match.
The Betting
Australia are currently trading at around 0.73/1 to win the game (inc Super Over) and England can be backed at around 19/20
Warner is 15/10 to be top Australian run scorer and Jos Buttler is a similar price to top score for England.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
This is shaping up as a must win game and whilst England have yet to fire (with the exception of Sam Curran's bowling in their opening match), I fancy they can confirm recent form and bounce back from that shock defeat to Ireland.
Bets: England to win at 19/20 with Betway
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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