The big one before the really BIG one – that’s the best way to describe tomorrow’s final between England and Australia to decide the winner of the Carlton Mid tri-series. It has been a series completely dominated by Australia, who are as yet undefeated, and one in which the third team, India, was demolished – much to the consternation of those of us who are fans of the Indian cricket team.
So, much to the dismay of Indian cricket fans, we have a final that does not feature India. Well, that’s fine by Indian fans, as long as India features in the final of the really big one, the World Cup 2015 final, to be held on March 29th. But it would be interesting all the same to find out who wins tomorrow’s match between England and Australia.
If Australia win tomorrow’s match, as they are expected to, they would further burnish their credentials as the favorites for the World Cup. If England win, a bit of the cloak of invincibility around Australia will have been taken away, and England under a new aggressive captain in Eoin Morgan, will emerge as serious contenders.
Among the players for Australia, Shane Watson is expected to miss out. This was confirmed by the Australian coach, Darren Lehman, who said, “I don’t think he’ll play, to be perfectly honest … We want to make sure everyone is 100% before they play for Australia.”
Mitchell Marsh is expected to replace Watson in the side, and Xavier Doherty would in all probability replace the injured Mitchell Johnson in the lineup, ahead of the (frankly) disappointing Gurinder Sandhu, who simply lacks the pace to make an impact at the highest level.
England captain Eoin Morgan has been a breath of fresh air, especially after the failed experiment with Alastair Cook as captain, and the only disappointment for England has been that he should have been made the captain a lot sooner. A lot of nonsense that surrounds the England one day international team, wouldn’t have happened. Morgan insisted that his side had bright chances of winning this one: “We had a bad run before this tour but now we’re winning games. Winning on Sunday would be huge.”
There is likely to be one change in the England side, with either Alex Hales or Gary Balance taking the misfiring Ravi Bopara’s spot in the side.
The Teams
Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Steven Smith, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
England: 1 Ian Bell, 2 Moeen Ali, 3 James Taylor, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn.
Match conditions
The WACA in Perth has always been the best cricket ground for fast bowlers because of the fast and furious nature of the pitch. Variable bounce may be expected, going by what we saw in the earlier match played on Friday here. The temperature is expected to be pleasantly warm, with chances of brief showers throughout the day. Hopefully, we will have a full day’s match, befitting a final.
Watch England take on Australia in the Final of the Carlton Mid Tri-Series, on Sunday, February 1st, starting at 8:50 AM, live on Star Sports.
