ICC World Cup 2015: 5 things to look forward in Australia v England match

After days of waiting with bated breath, cricket fans will see the World Cup finally get underway on Valentine’s Day with two Group A matches starting off the event. While the first game will see co-hosts New Zealand take on Sri Lanka at Christchurch, Game 2 will see World Cup favourites Australia battle it out with dark horses England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the first day/night encounter of the 43-day event.Here are the top 5 things to look forward to as the two Ashes teams square off against each other.

#1 Battle of the fast bowlers

Both England and Australia rely heavily on their pace bowling attack to make an impact in the game. In James Anderson and Stuart Broad, England has a bowling duo that can take advantage of the bowler-friendly conditions where the ball moves in the air and off the seam.

While Anderson, who is the most experienced player in the English team, relies heavily on swing, Broad focuses on keeping it tight and hitting the deck hard. Aptly supported by Chris Woakes, Steve Finn and James Tredwell, the bowling attack has the potential to unsettle any batting line-up in the world.

Australia is jam-packed with fast bowlers, and each one of whom is capable of taking the game away from the opposition on his day. Mitchell Johnson will be the vital cog in the bowling line-up, spearheading the attack. The left-arm pace bowler, who is coming off an injury that resulted in him missing the tri-series last month, generates steep bounce, and his knowledge of the home conditions will test even the best batsmen around.

If Johnson fails, there is another Mitchell – Mitchell Starc, who specialises in bowling at the death, in addition to being a potent bowler with the new ball.

If either of the two fail, the Kangaroos have Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood to fall back on. The fact that they kept the experienced Ryan Harris out of the 15-member squad says something.

#2 Battle of struggling captains: Morgan or Bailey?

After the unceremonious ouster of former England captain Alastair Cook just days before the final 15 was announced, Eoin Morgan took over the job of leading the side. Besides the responsibility of captaining an inexperienced team, the left-hander is also under pressure to deliver with the bat after a string of poor scores.

Morgan, who led the team to successive victories against India in the tri-series last month, has himself been in horrendous form in the last 5 innings – scoring only 2 runs in addition to 3 ducks. Bailey, on the other hand, hasn’t been great with the bat either and has admitted to being the most likely batsman to make way for returning Michael Clarke in their second match, against Bangladesh. A big knock here could make things interesting, though.

#3 Will England better their ODI record Down Under?

England, even when they have performed well in the Test arena, haven’t been the team to beat in limited overs cricket. Since the beginning of 2014, they have played 30 ODI matches, emerging triumphant in 11 of them and losing 19 with a win percentage of 0.37.

Against Australia, the numbers are more dismal, to say the least – a solitary win, coming way back in January last year, in the last 8 games. They also suffered series losses to Sri Lanka and India before they managed to clinch the series against West Indies.

But that was before Morgan took over the reins. Under him, the English team reeks of confidence and have given themselves an outside chance of a World Cup victory. They have emerged as the dark horses after the twin defeats handed out to MS Dhoni’s boys in the recently concluded tri-series.

Although England have lost 13 of their last 15 ODIs against Australia in Australia, a turnaround, though difficult, isn’t impossible.

#4 Key players and battles

Australia, the most balanced team on paper, will bank heavily on David Warner who has been filling the slot left vacant by the great Matthew Hayden with ease. A destructive player, Warner would look to continue with his explosive form, setting the platform for batsmen to follow.

Steve Smith has been a revelation ever since he was assigned the Test captaincy in the 4-match series against India, where he amassed 769 runs in 8 innings. In the unlikely event of the early dismissal of the openers, Smith will have the onus of anchoring the innings before players like Maxwell can take over.

It is not without reason that Martin Crowe mentioned Joe Root as one of the 4 prodigies to watch out for in the upcoming years. At an age of 23, the youngster is already a phenomenon with 1600 runs in 45 innings and will hold the key to keeping together England’s fragile batting unit.

Warner vs Anderson – Anderson’s primary task would be to get rid of Warner. The tone of the game will be set by the winner of this duel.

Johnson vs the English batsmen- Yes, the Ashes was well over a year ago, but no one can ignore the threat that Johnson continues to be. He seems to have taken a liking to the team in the shorter formats as well with 35 wickets in 24 games against them.

#5 What the numbers say?

It goes without saying that Saturday’s encounter will go a long way in determining the performance of the two teams in the games to follow.

Australia on paper seems the strongest side without any apparent weakness with each player being a match winner in his own right. The Aussies are already without injured James Faulkner and regular captain Clarke for the first game, and Darren Lehman will have a relatively easier task to pick his final 11.

England, who will have the boisterous Barmy Army for support, are the underdogs going into the game and will look to start with an upset, which will give them a sense of confidence as the tournament progresses.

Head to head – Australia vs England

	Matches played	England won	Australia won
Overall	130	49	76
At MCG	21	6	15
In World Cups	6	2	4

Pitch- According to Wasim Akram, “the conditions in MCG can assist the seam bowlers, but the bounce there often helps the batsmen”.

Ricky Ponting is the most successful batsman here with 2108 runs in 41 games.

Ajit Agarkar has the best bowling figures of 6/42.

Teams- Australia: Michael Clarke (c), George Bailey, David Warner, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner.

England: Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan (capt), Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.

Match starts- 9:00 IST