A rampant Australia will be wary of Scotland threat when the two teams clash in a crucial Group B encounter in the T20 World Cup in Gros Islet, St Lucia, with the outcome set to influence Super Eight qualification.
With Australia having already booked one spot for the Super Eight from Group B, Scotland and England are in race for the second position.
Scotland will go through if they beat Australia or even if their contest is washed out, but in case of a defeat to the Mitchell Marsh-led side and England win against Namibia hours earlier, the Scots would miss the bus.
For England, a win over Namibia is a must and if the Australians do them a favour by beating Scotland, their chances will only brighten up.
A washout in England-Namibia game in the same group will see Scotland go through.
Australia have been in top-form with hardly any serious concern. Nathan Ellis is expected to continue featuring in their playing XI since the Australians tend to rest one of their big three fast bowlers — Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc — in such contests rummybo.
Hazlewood had earlier mentioned about Australia manipulating their approach against Scotland to keep England threat at bay, but Jos Buttler’s team have done themselves a massive favour by improving their Net Run Rate immensely with a dominant victory over Oman.
For the Scots, beating former champions Australia is ‘a hell of an opportunity’ in Michael Leask’s words and they would want to give their best, or maybe even hope that rain gods do them a favour, since they are still second on the points table with five points compared to England’s three.
Squads:
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner and Adam Zampa.
Scotland: Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, Brad Currie, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs, Jack Jarvis, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Charlie Tear, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal.
Match starts at 6:00am IST.
Pakistan eye consolatory win over Ireland but rain threat looms
Babar Azam’s Pakistan will look to restore some pride when they take on a under-firing Ireland in their final Group A match at Lauderhill in Florida on Sunday.
With arch-rivals India and USA sealing the two spots for the Super Eight stage from Group A, Pakistan have been confined to some introspection and relook at their T20 game. But before all that, Babar’s side will have to first thwart the Irish challenge.
Ireland had beaten Pakistan comprehensively in a bilateral game in days leading to the T20 World Cup and the contest — if at all it happens — could see both the teams in green fighting hard for a final laugh.
Ireland are the only team without a win in Group A and they will be inspired to sign off with their account opened, riding on Pakistan’s lack of confidence, their trait of being fallible at crucial stages and a unified effort.
But all that will come to fore only if the rain stays away to allow play to happen as Florida has witnessed a flood-like station amid heavy downpour in the last few days.
In fact, co-hosts USA’s unexpected qualification happened only after their contest here against Ireland was washed out, which had also ensured Pakistan’s exit in the first round.
Squads:
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan.
Ireland: Paul Stirling (c), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andy Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little*, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock (wk), Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Ben White, Craig Young.
Match starts at 8:00pm IST rummybo.