How to Play
Match previews
Australia v England – 1st semi-final
The Champions trophy reaches its final stage as Australia and England face-off in the first semi-final today at Centurion. Buoyed by the recent hammering of England in their bilateral series, Australia will be confident enough to pull another one on their traditional rivals. The camp must be rejuvenated after winning a last ball thriller against Pakistan though the batting is still a concern for Coach Tim Nielsen. Vice-Captain Michael Clarke’s absence due to injury is a major blow but replacement David Hussey is a proven match-winner. Master batsman Ricky Ponting and young wicket-keeper batsman Tim Paine are in sublime touch and English seamers will be wary of them. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori had pointed out familiarity helped them beat Sri Lanka. England and Australia will look for the same after playing two months of cricket against each other in the English summer. The Aussies will also be hoping that Left arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson will add to the performances that got him the ICC player of the year award last night. Michael Hussey and Brett Lee would do well to prove the theory “Big Players for Big games”. In addition, Shane Watson and Cameron White have largely remained dormant and will be itching to fire. In short, the English surely have their hands full.
England having started with a bang have fizzled out a little, losing their final game cheaply to the Kiwis and also due to the doubt surrounding their top performer Stuart Broad. But observers the world over including yours truly knows better than to write them off the second time in the tournament. The pitch in the New Zealand game was tricky otherwise the English batsmen have been nothing short of explosive throughout the tournament. Paul Collingwood is a man on a mission with able deputies in Owais Shah and Eion Morgan. Andrew Strauss could be the dark horse as a batsman specially after tormenting the Aussies throughout the summer. Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson will be looking to grab the big stage. What will make or break it for the English though, will be the performance of Off-spinner Graeme Swann and if he can control overs 20-40. The ever so shrewd Ricky Ponting summed it up aptly in the pre-match, “England is playing some pretty good cricket of late, but we know their strengths and weaknesses and have been able to exploit them in the past. Now it is a matter of doing that again”. On that note, let’s brace ourselves for the 1st semi-final!
Prateek Kapil
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment