World Cup 2015 Match 2 Preview: Australia vs England Group A

Date: Feb 14, 2015 Time: 0900 IST
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground

World Cup 2015 Match 2 Preview: Australia vs England Group A: Arch rivals England and Australia will begin their campaign in the World cup against each other at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Both the teams just played each other in a Triseries involving India as the 3^rd team. Australia defeated England in the finals to win the Triseries.

Australia

Australia will look forward to continue their good form which included a 2-0 Test series win against India and the Tri-series triumph over both England and India. They have lost just one match to South Africa in last 4 months.

Their batting form is terrific with players like David Warner, Steven Smith, and Glen Maxwell in top-notch form, especially Warner and Smith who both hit 100s in the triseries. The bowling is anchored by Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood with Pat Cummins and Shane Watson as the backup. Xavier Doherty and Glen Maxwell make up the spin options for them.

With Michael Clarke confirmed to miss this game, they will want to win the game to start their campaign for their 5^th World title.

England

On the other hand, England’s tale has been full of misery and sadness. They lost 3-1 to India at home, 5-2 to Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, and then lost every match to Australia in the recently concluded tri-series including the final. Their only wins in their last 12 ODIs have come against Sri Lanka and India.

England lost Alastair Cook due to him being dropped for his poor form and another struggling for form player Eoin Morgan was appointed Captain for the World Cup.He did make up with a century in the triseries in Australia later on. Their batting mainstays are Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali, while the bowling rests with James Anderson, Stuart Board, Steven Finn and James Tredwell as the spin option.

England need to regroup quickly for them to have any chance of making it to the knockout stages of the tournament. They also need to make way for Alex Hales at the top of the order in any way given that he is their best limited overs player and has scored a century in World T20 in 2014. But he is continuously ignored in the playing XI at the cost of losing matches.

Last 5 ODIs:
Aus: W.N/R.W.W.W
Eng: L.W.L.W.L

Possible playing XI:

Aus: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, George Bailey (C), Glen Maxwell, Brad Haddin (WK), Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty

Eng: Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, James Root, James Taylor, Eoin Morgan (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Ravi Bopara, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, Stuart Board, James Anderson