If you have though the only T20 cricket after the England-Pakistan series is going to be the Indian Premier League then your wrong. As we have the Australia-England limited-overs series starting on 4th September in England under the COVID-19 regulations. The Australian side landed in England about 2 weeks ago and have been in the bio-secure bubble ever since.
Both England and Australia have named powerhouse squads since England-Australia is a high volume series. No teams want to lose any of the matches in this high volume series. Over the years, we have seen how players haven’t received the best of the reception whether they’re playing in England or Australia, the players have been booed because of the Ashes rivalry the two nations live by.
When we talk about the T20 record between the two sides, it’s Australia who has a 60% win percentage when playing in T20s vs England. But if we talk about the T20 World Cup, it’s England who has won it back in 2009.
Meanwhile, Australian players haven’t played any competitive cricket other than the 4 warm-up games they had prior to the start of the 1st T20. So Australia are completely out of match practice whereas England has been playing a lot of cricket with the West Indies and Pakistan teams touring England.
Even though Australia haven’t had many match practice, they are likely to put up a beyond expectations performance out in the middle. They have quality players in the ranks in the form of Steve Smith, David Warner, Aaron Finch, who can turn the table on any given day.
Date and Venue: England vs Australia, 1st T20 in Ageas Bowl, Southampton starting from September 4th (Friday) at 10:30 PM IST
Weather and Pitch Condition
The first T20 is likely to have light showers and rainfall going ahead in the game. The weather would seem clear in the morning but light rain is expected later on. The temperature expected is quite normal as a maximum temperature is of 20°C while the minimum can be around 10°C.
We should have a full game if the light showers don’t end up turning into heavy rainfall, for which the chance is highly unlikely.
Australia vs England – Match Prediction
This series will go down to be one of the most competitive series this year. Both sides boast star performers in their ranks. But if we look at both the squads, the Australia squad has an upper hand here because of the quality bowling line up they possess.
Which is why we feel Australia will win the first T20i since their top order has a slightly upper edge over England batsmen. Even though England have performed well in the T20s vs Pakistan, We feel the top order of Warner, Finch and Smith is one of the best in the world. Which makes them clear favourites to dominate the opposition on any given day.