Australia tour of England; 2nd ODI Preview
Ashes rivals, Australia and England will face-off each other today at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. English team, surprisingly, has become pretty good at limited-overs cricket over the past few months. They won the World T20 last month, opened the ODI series with a cast-iron win at the Rose Bowl and have been the victor in their last six consecutive One Day Internationals.
It is an astounding feeling for the Australian captain Ricky Ponting, as the Aussies in the past ten years have lost a couple of Ashes series but in ODIs have always had the old rivals covered. Over the past decade, both England and Australia played 35 ODIs against each other with the Kangaroos winning 25.
England on Tuesday chased Australian total 267-7 at the loss of six wickets with four overs to spare at Rose Bowl, Southampton. Regardless of the end result, it was a closely contested battle. Eoin Morgan's unbeaten 103 for 85, plundering 16 boundaries, put the English side in the driver’s seat.
Australian pace attack is still a weakness. It’s strange that one of the most deadly weapons of Kangaroos, Shaun Tait, will be watching on while the team will be confronting at Sophia Gardens. The speedster will make Glamorgan's T20 squad as Australia thinks him as a T20 specialist nowadays. The English side is undoubtedly thankful to the Kangaroos decision as they are not facing Tait’s toe-crushing 100 mile per hour Yorkers and nasty short deliveries.
All rounder Shane Watson is definitely the most significant man in the Australian squad. He was the only batsman from his side that scored at a better rate than run a ball in Rose Bowl, although it was his aggression that sacked him. If he makes another quick, but a sensible, start, it would help to reduce the pressure on his team.
The Irishman, Eoin Morgan's match-winning 103 at the Rose Bowl established him as the threat man in English middle order. Australian skipper was not happy the way his bowlers conceived Morgan half-volleys, but it did not matter as such where the bowler puts the ball against a man in that kind of form.
Australia surprisingly handed Josh Hazlewood a debut at the Rose Bowl, where some bounce in the track was expected that could have been exploited by the tall youngster. His confused first delivery was a full toss that Pietersen battered to the boundary, but the teenager fought back conceding 41 for 1. Clint McKay was star-crossed to miss out and might again sit out if Ponting retains Hazlewood. Steven Smith might be brought in to add power to the lower order. But their batting line is pretty strong and is their ultimate strength as well, so they should depend upon their solid top six to set a good total. Ricky Ponting is just 51 runs behind the milestone of 13,000 in ODI’s – so far only Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka and Indian Sachin Tendulkar have achieved that mark.
Australian’s in Cardiff would feel more like playing at their home ground than the hosts. Kangaroos have played three ODIs at Sophia Gardens and have won only one. Australia's upset loss to Bangali Tigers in 2005 also came in the same ground. English side, on the other hand, have never completed a one day at the venue, both the matches that they played there have been washed out (2006 and 2008). Weather forecast for today is that there are chances of an isolated heavy spell of rain, so the match might again go for a Duckworth-Lewis calculation.
A victory in Cardiff will result in the best winning streak of English team - seven consecutive wins - in One Day Internationals since 1997-98.
A few more runs from the senior batsmen can give Australia a good chance to draw the level. Likewise, English men understand that relying on one man, Eoin Morgan, would be quite risky, so they should get more from the likes of Strauss and Pietersen. A defeat in Sophia Gardens would make Aussies fight back to win the series. Who knows, one can just wait and see.
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