Champions Trophy Group A Preview – England and Australia favourites to go through?
With the Champions Trophy warm up games up and running, it’s time to weigh up the teams’ chances in the group stage. Australia and England, ranked 2 and 5 respectively in the ICC ODI standings, will likely be the teams to progress through to the semi-finals. However, the two big guns would be ill-advised to write off New Zealand and a confident Bangladeshi line-up, where one slip-up against either team could mean the end of the road. Here’s a brief look at Group A and how things could play out in the group stage of the tournament.
Australia
The current World Champions come into the tournament seeking their 3rd Champions Trophy title, being the only team to have won the tournament twice. The tournament will bring together 4 of their most promising fast bowlers and the prospect of having Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins in the starting line-up is indeed an exciting one, particularly with conditions in England expected to favour the quicks in general. This may also be their greatest worry however, with the batting line-up looking slightly thin and their two most prolific run getters Steven Smith and David Warner not having done too well in English conditions in the past. Another concern would be the presence of England and New Zealand in Group A, both teams that thrive in seamer-friendly conditions.
Key Players – Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc
Squad – Steven Smith(c), David Warner, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa
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England
Perhaps one of the favourites to lift the trophy this year, if all goes according to plan, hosts England should make it to the semi-finals comfortably. England is one of the teams that will also feature a solid bench, with the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Sam Billings unlikely to get a look into the playing XI. Their strength is no doubt in the batting but the likes of Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett may cause a few problems with their pace. On paper England seemingly have no obvious weaknesses but it will be interesting to see how the team stands up the expectations.
Key Players – Mark Wood, Joe Root, Ben Stokes
Squad – Eoin Morgan(c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Jos Buttler, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
New Zealand
Perennial dark horses, they will once again be cast in the shadows of ‘Big Brother’ Australia in a group that features the home side England and a resurgent Bangladeshi team which beat them in a recently concluded Tri-Series game. Despite this, the Kiwis have always made strong showings at ICC events and could prove to be a stumbling block to the bigger teams in the group. They will rely on the old guard – Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Tim Southee and Trent Boult – all of whom were part of New Zealand’s historic World Cup performance in 2015. As is often the case with New Zealand, there aren’t any real superstars in the making but the likes of Mitchell Santner, Corey Anderson and Tom Latham are definitely players who could turn the game in the Black Cap’s favour.
Key Players – Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill
Squad – Kane Williamson(c), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Neil Broom, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Jeetan Patel, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor
Bangladesh
Mashrafe Mortaza’s Bangladesh will be buoyed by not only their most recent win against New Zealand, but also their No 6 ranking in the ICC ODI standings. The team has been going from strength to strength over the past couple of years and it will definitely be a feather in their cap if they are able to notch up a win against one of the three teams. Bangladesh’ strength has always been their batting but the emergence of the likes of Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahamed and Mehedi Hasan have strengthened their claim of being one of the top teams, at least in the shorter formats of the game. Australia, England and New Zealand would do well to be wary of a confident and youthful Tiger outfit.
Key Players – Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman
Squad – Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Sunzamul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam
