England would surely still look back at the last six overs of the previous game and contemplate as to how did they manage to pull that performance out of the hat. However, the players in the English dressing room led by captain Eoin Morgan are mature enough to not get ahead of themselves as Australia still have 2 games remaining to take the series away from them.
A simply sensational turnaround 🤯
Victory from the jaws of defeat 🙌#ENGvAUS
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 4, 2020
Australia on the other hand would be gutted as they would know that there was no way England should have won the previous game from a situation where Australia needed just 39 runs off 36 balls with 9 wickets to spare. The excuse of not having played competitive cricket for almost 6 months would also fail to explain such a dismal batting performance for Australia.
England hang on by two runs in a nail-biting finish.
Not the result we were after but terrific to see the Green and Gold back playing cricket. #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/Jok3TMUI7m
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) September 4, 2020
Both teams would be looking to improve on the performance from the last game irrespective of the result for either side. Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan were massive positives for England from the last game as well as their perfect bowling display in the death overs. Consistent batting in the middle-order still remains a concern for England. Australia must be content with their bowling performance as well, as they managed to restrict an in-form English batting lineup for just 162 runs. The opening stand of 98 runs by Aaron Finch and David Warner would be a big boost as both batsmen would look to emulate similar performance in today’s game as well. Despite that, a lacklustre effort to finish off the chase by the middle order would be something to improve on with immediate effect.
Form guide
(last five completed matches)
England WLWWW
Australia LWLWW
Team news
England (probable) 1. Jos Buttler (wk), 2. Jonny Bairstow, 3. Dawid Malan, 4. Tom Banton, 5. Eoin Morgan (capt), 6. Moeen Ali, 7. Tom Curran, 8. Chris Jordan, 9. Adil Rashid, 10. Jofra Archer, 11. Mark Wood / Sam Curran
Australia (probable) 1. David Warner, 2. Aaron Finch (capt), 3. Steven Smith, 4. Glenn Maxwell, 5. Marcus Stoinis, 6. Alex Carey (wk), 7. Ashton Agar, 8. Pat Cummins, 9. Mitchell Starc, 10. Kane Richardson / Josh Hazlewood, 11. Adam Zampa
Pitch and conditions
The same pitch will be used for the second match and Warner suggested it would be a touch drier as it is a day game. The forecast is for a dry, bright autumn day in Southampton.
The match at Southampton is set to begin at 2:15 pm local time and 6:45 pm IST(Indian Standard Time).
