After being whitewashed in the 50 over game Australia’s T20 stars out for revenge
AN increased Australian focus on becoming the best Twenty 20 team in world cricket could reap some last gasp tour rewards as the emerging international force look to put the gloating English public back in their box.
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AN increased Australian focus on becoming the best Twenty 20 team in world cricket could reap some last gasp tour rewards and the emerging international force wants to put the gloating English public back in their box in Birmingham.
Plenty have moved fast to deride Australia’s chances of defending its 50-over world Cup crown in England next year after a 5-0 series shellacking but the T20 crew has form on the board and is ready to remind the old enemy about the newest world order.
The 20-over format has in many eyes surpassed the one-day game and Australia’s progress, after years of stagnation, has been hurried on the back of the Big Bash which has begun producing players capable of performing internationally.
Cricket Australia has expanded the BBL fixture to 58 games next summer too, nearly double that of the 31 played in 2011-12, as it prioritises T20 cricket ahead of back-to-back world cups in 2020 and 2021.
Australia has charged to second on the world rankings, the highest in any format, after six straight wins, including two against England as recently as February, with an outfit engineered to succeed.
The team is loaded with four players from the BBL champion Adelaide Strikers, plus the competition’s leading run scorer D’Arcy Short and another four million Indian Premier League stars keen to leave England on a high.
Captain Aaron Finch, the ODI vice-captain, will skipper the T20 team but said he hadn’t given any thought to the possibility of taking over as one-day captain too as Tim Paine weighs up his short-form future.
Instead Finch is focusing on this T20 contest and the message has been rammed home by coach Justin Langer, disappointed in the one-day returns, how important a tour ending victory is.
Langer has won three BBL titles with the Perth Scorchers and Finch has high hopes the T20 boys can quell the fired-up English players, who showed signs of complacency in limping to a series-sealing victory at Old Trafford last Sunday.
“We played well in the tri series, well against England, beating them a couple of times, there’s no reason why the boys shouldn’t be confident going into this,” Finch said in Birmingham.
“I know we’ve taken a bit of stick in the five ODIs but the boys will be quite confident in their skills and with a new format it’s a chance to start again.”
Langer has had several meetings with his new leadership group, Finch and his deputy Alex Carey, already and a squad demoralised by a 5-0 ODI rout has been re-energised by getting back to the format in which most of them made their names.
Bowler AJ Tye took an almighty hammering in the ODI series, going for 100 runs when England piled on 481 at Trent Bridge and the knuckle-ball specialist wasn’t seen in the final two games
But Tye toured England after being the leading wicket-taker in this year’s IPL and Finch backed him to find those skills that make him a four-over marvel.
“He’s very confident in his skills, particularly in this format. He’s had a lot of success wherever he’s played: Big Bash IPL, international cricket,” Finch said.
“I’m sure there’ll be no hangover effects from a couple of average games by his standards in the one-dayers.”
Paine, spinner Nathan Lyon and batsman Shaun Marsh, the leading run scorer in the 5-0 rout aren’t in the T20 squad
Nic Maddinson, without a state home, has come in to bolster the batting ranks with leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson and all-rounder Jack Wildermuth also included. The make-up of Wednesday’s team will be decided after Tuesday afternoon training.
It’s a one-off encounter before the group goes to Zimbabwe for a tri-series with Pakistan which is still going ahead despite escalating political tensions in the African nation.
AUSTRALIA T20 SQUAD:
Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth
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