Host nation England are already into the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 after having beaten Bangladesh and New Zealand. Their toughest challenge yet though will follow when they take on old rivals Australia at Edgbaston on Saturday. England are already confident as group winners, so it doesn’t matter about this result at all.
But from another point of view, it does, because if they go and win the game then they can put Australia out of the tournament. England’s powerful batting line-up has lived up to its hype so far with 308 against Bangladesh and 310 against the Kiwis. So there is a big incentive here for England actually in what appears to be a dead rubber. They won’t want to rue the opportunity to knock out the Australians instead of potentially meeting them in the final.
So England can’t afford a let-up in their momentum at the moment and if Australia does not get through then this will be this last contest between the two nations before the Ashes later in the year. Australia’s campaign has been blighted with rain so far, having had both of their games washed out. They need a big performance here to muscle their way through to the semi-finals. Australia were perhaps a little lucky with the rain washing out their stunted run-chase of New Zealand in their opener.
England v Australia Champions Trophy Cricket Betting Odds
Australia 10/11, England 10/11
But the Aussies were well on course to beat Bangladesh before the skies opened. Australia have lost against England in the Champions Trophy in 2004 and in 2013, but overall, Australia holds an 80-51 head to head lead over England in ODI matches. When you break that down into matches contested in England, the record is just 30-28 still in Australia’s favour, so nothing much to split the two of them. Actually, England have won two of their last three on home soil against the Aussies.
With the bat, David Warner and Steve Smith are once again going to be the key men in their runs total on the board. While they boast Mitchell Starc in the bowling attack, he is backed up well by Josh Hazlewood but so far the rest of the backup bowlers haven’t really lived up to much at all and England can get at them. The bookies can’t split this because they know that the Aussies will come out all fired up as they have to win, but then there is that golden carrot dangling in front of England’s faces.
Once against Joe Root is 11/4 favourite at Boylesports to be England’s Top Batsman for the match, while Warner and Smith are 11/4 joint-favourites on the Aussie side of things there. As long as the rain stays away from Birmingham, we should be in for a humdinger. Edgbaston has already hosted two of the best games of the tournament so far, with India’s win over Pakistan and then, in turn, Pakistan’s fantastic win over South Africa. When it comes down the batting, England have the edge and they have the momentum. They should have enough to attack Australia’s back up bowlers and edge the win to keep their momentum going.
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