T20 World Cup: New Zealand match against England crucial to Australia semi-final hopes

Australia has rarely needed a trans-Tasman sporting alliance as badly as this year’s T20 World Cup. See why the Kiwis hold the key to the Aussies’ hopes of a semi-final berth.

Australians will have one eye on the Melbourne Cup and another on the Gabba on Tuesday with punters hoping the race that stops the nation is followed by a New Zealand masterclass that would help their odds of qualifying greatly.

New Zealand’s match against England looms as the key matchup in the group stage with the Aussies hoping the English don’t win as they try to keep their top two hopes alive.

Friday night’s washout against England at the MCG was a huge blow for the tournament hosts who need to win all of their games given their shocking net run rate from a hefty defeat at the hands of the Kiwis.

Wet weather has made Australia’s World Cup defence tough. Picture; Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

It’s why an English loss gives the defending champions the best chance of finishing second, so long as they win their remaining matches against Ireland and Afghanistan.

Net run rate is the hot topic at the moment, especially as wet weather continues to wreak havoc, but Glenn Maxwell says it won’t dominate team talk ahead of their final two pool matches.

The Aussies were in a similar position in last year’s tournament after they were obliterated by England, but they didn’t panic with strategy talk and bounced back with huge wins over Bangladesh and the West Indies.

That included an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh that saw them chase down 73 in just 6.2 overs as they went on to knock off New Zealand in the final.

Adam Zampa was the chief destroyer when Australia smashed Bangladesh at last year’s World Cup.

“I think it makes it pretty interesting with what’s to come,” said Maxwell, who won’t have to worry about keeping after Matthew Wade tested negative for COVID-19.

“I know we’ve got Ireland and Afghanistan to finish, so as long as we can do our job during those games and try to win them comfortably, I think it’s down to results.

“It’s pretty similar to where we were last year when we were waiting on the last couple of games to see where we’d finish up and if we’d make the top two.

“I think you’ve got to get in a position where you can win the game. If you go into the game thinking about net run rate, it can make it really difficult.

“Looking back at the West Indies and Bangladesh games from last year when we played really well and were able to finish the games early, before the game there wasn’t any talk about net run rate.

“You’ve got to get into winning positions before you can start talking about net run rate, otherwise you’ll shoot yourself in the foot.”

Australia’s net run rate won’t influence selections, with coach Andrew McDonald declaring his side is yet to produce its best.

Fans had to settle for selfies instead of cricket on Friday. Picture; William West/AFP.

“Net run rate is going to come in to it, we knew that at the start of the tournament when you only play five games, net run rate can influence who goes through to the final four,” he said.

“We’ve been there before. First and foremost we have to improve facets of our game … get back to the cricket we are capable of, we probably haven’t done that the last couple of games.

“That excites me, there is still a lot of improvement in the group.”

Maxwell also defended skipper Aaron Finch as calls intensify for the out of sorts opener to be dropped after his most recent knock against Sri Lanka was labelled “torturous” by Mark Waugh.

Finch scratched his way to an unbeaten 31 off 42 deliveries, but his strike rate of 73.80 is a big concern given his lean stretch of form.

His Victorian teammate saw that knock differently, though, and is confident Finch can turn it around soon.

The pressure is building on captain Aaron Finch.

“I actually feel like he’s batted pretty well,” Maxwell said.

“Even though last game wasn’t as pure as you’d like to see someone strike it, he still got through the toughest part of the game under lights when it was swinging and seaming consistently throughout the whole innings.

“In past years, I probably would have seen him give it away at that stage and left it for someone else (to do the job).

“The fact he was not out at the other end with Stoin (Marcus Stoinis) gave us a batter at the other end so whatever he was doing didn’t really matter. For me and Stoin, we knew we had him at the other end so it was actually quite calming.

“If he’s out then you’ve got two middle-order batters starting at the same time and that makes it a bit different and not as comfortable a chase.

“He didn’t strike the ball the way that he would have liked, but he stuck it out, which is not easy to do in T20 cricket. We know at some stage that he’s going to go off.”