Australia vs England T20 World Cup warm-up match in Perth
It’s taken a record T20 opening stand by England to bring undone Australia in Perth, but at half strength the home side had to plenty to be happy about except for one key ingredient.
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Australia fell just short of pulling off an epic run chase against England, but even in defeat sent a warning shot that the men who delivered last year’s T20 World Cup are ready to defend it.
David Warner (73 off 44) continued his scintillating form with a second blazing knock in as many innings, as all-round aces Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh cast aside fitness doubts to storm into form at just the right time for a well-balanced Australian squad that is ticking just about every box.
Clutch king Matthew Wade threatened to pull off another Michael Bevan style finish when he was faced with 16 off the last over to hunt down England’s monster target of 209 to win — but even though he held out for 21 with 12 to get, Australia — who were at half strength — showed they’ll take some serious stopping on home soil going down by eight runs.
The one remaining question mark for Australia is where Aaron Finch fits into the puzzle, after once again dropping himself down the order despite having opened for virtually his entire career.
Unless Cameron Green is an 11th hour call-up to the World Cup squad, Australia runs the risk of being too smart for themselves by having Finch give up three precious warm-up games as an opener.
After two embarrassing first-up crowds in Queensland against the West Indies, the cricket season roared to life in Perth in front of 25,755, with Warner — the player of last year’s World Cup — particularly impressive yet again.
England’s openers Jos Buttler (68 off 32) and Alex Hales (84 off 51) won the match for their side with a monstrous 132-run opening stand batting first, although Australia had left its entire first-choice bowling attack back on the east coast.
Overall the match was a massive boost for Australia, given Stoinis returned from a side strain to bowl two good overs after being dispatched in his first, and then go on to almost win the game for his side with a blazing 35 off 15 which was shades of his semi-final winning knock at last year’s World Cup.
Marsh — the player of last year’s Cup final — also showed why he is crucial to the defence 12 months on, smashing 36 off 26 at No. 3, although he is still yet to bowl.
In a bizarre finish, Wade likely would have been given out obstructing the field had England appealed, after appearing to fend off England bowler Mark Wood from taking a catch.
Wade survived and almost was the hero again.
Green struggled opening the batting and bowling, getting hammered for 38 off his three overs before making a duck, while Finch was run out for 12 with commentators still scratching their heads over why he isn’t opening the batting 13 days out from the World Cup start.
COULD YOU REPLACE AGAR WITH GREEN?
With left-arm spinner Ashton Agar still not 100 per cent fit, could Australia gamble on replacing him in the squad with Cameron Green?
It would be risky to go into a tournament with only one spinner, but the fact is, Agar is such a specialist selection as a left-armer who can bat and field, that there isn’t another like-for-like in Australian cricket who can replace him anyway if he fails to come good from a side strain.
Back-up spinner Mitchell Swepson was destroyed by England on Sunday night, and he would be a questionable addition to the squad because there would never be a circumstance where Australia would play two leggies in the one XI — with Adam Zampa locked in to play every game.
If Zampa was to get injured during the World Cup — he can be replaced — and given the strength of Australia’s pace attack and the fast, pacey conditions on home soil, in all likelihood Glenn Maxwell will be able to adequately additional spinning overs in the XI.
Agar still has two matches in Canberra he can play this week before the October 15 deadline rolls around for teams to make changes to their squad … but if he falls short, is this the ticket in for x-factor Green?
SMITH OUT OF FAVOUR
It’s clear now that Smith is not in Australia’s first-choice XI for the World Cup and he will now need injury or a loss during the tournament to force a rethink by selectors.
The fitness battles of Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis has hurt Smith’s chances even more, because Australia is refusing to go into these practice matches with less than six bowling options available, so that’s meant Green continues to play at Smith’s expense.
Smith probably originally thought he was in a shootout with Tim David, but now he might need the captain Aaron Finch to fall out of the side to play — given Finch has moved himself to No.4.
TOO LATE FOR ELLIS?
All the talk has been about should Green be part of Australia’s World Cup squad, but the real mistake selectors may have made is leaving out Nathan Ellis.
The hustling Tasmanian fast bowler was brilliant amid the carnage at Optus Stadium, finishing with figures of 3-20 compared to the 1-39 of Kane Richardson — the man who just beat him for a World Cup spot.
In the penultimate over at the death, Ellis leaked just one run and by sprinting back to his mark after every delivery, saved Australia from suffering a fielding penalty for the final over for a slow over rate.
Ellis bears some resemblance to Andy Bichel with his hardworking, leave-nothing-out-there style.
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