Australia and England are the final two nations to make their ICC Champions Trophy bow when they clash in Lahore on Saturday
This is a Group B match with Afghanistan and South Africa the other sides in this half of the draw.
Australia
Australia's prep for this tournament didn't go well. They lost a 2match series to Sri Lanka in Colombo 2-0, going down by margins of 49 runs and then 174 runs.
In November 2024 they won the series opener at home to Pakistan by 2 wickets but then lost the next 2 by 9 wickets and 8 wickets to go down 2-1. In September last year they edged a 5 match series in England 3-2.
Squad: Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Inglis (wk), Matt Short, Aaron Hardie, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, Nathan Ellis, Ben Dwarshius, Spencer Johnson, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Tanveer Sangha
England
England were on the wrong end of a 3-0 clean sweep in India earlier this month, losing the first 2 matches by a 4 wicket margin and going down by 142 runs in the final contest..
Across September, October and November last year they lost 2-1 to West Indies in the Caribbean and 3-2 at home to Australia.
Squad: Jos Buttler (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 161 times in this format with Australia winning 91 to England's 65 with 2 ties and 3 no results.
The 5 match series in England in September 2024 saw Australia race into a 2-0 lead (7 wickets and 68 runs). England fought back to square things up (46 runs
and 186 runs) but Australia won the decider by 49 runs.
The Betting
At the time of writing Australia are 15/20 to win this match and England can be backed at 21/20
Prices subject to change
The Verdict
I'm very open minded about this one and mainly on price I will take a chance on Jamie Smith to be top England batsman given he will reportedly come in at 3.
Bet: Top England Batsman, Jamie Smith at 5.25/1 with Sportingbet
