World Cup-winning all-rounder Isa Guha believes England faces a significant selection dilemma around whether it risks further exposing its biggest weakness against Australia to keep its tournament hopes alive.
The Ashes foes, both 1-1, will face off at the MCG at 7pm (AEDT) on Friday night in a must-win T20 World Cup match, with the loser likely to miss out on the top two qualification for the semi-finals.
The two teams’ respective scenarios are a result of the Aussies’ humiliating loss to the Black Caps on Saturday night followed by England’s shock rain-affected loss to Ireland on Wednesday night.
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While England did well to contain Ireland in the final eight overs of Wednesday night’s first innings after a fast Irish start, Guha told foxsports.com.au she still had concerns over the team’s death bowling capabilities.
“England, they know how big the game is obviously,” Guha told foxsports.com.au. “They‘ve been dealt a few blows themselves. Losing Reece Topley on the eve of a tournament was quite significant because there are other bowlers coming back from injury like Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills. You can’t just rely on Sam Curran at the death.
“There‘s going to come a point where England will have to defend a total – and who are going to be the bowlers to bowl in those final few overs?”
Guha said England was a “seriously disruptive side” with the bat and had ample match-winners
But asked how much confidence she would have in England defending a total if asked to do so on Friday night, Guha said: “It honestly depends on the score.
“The spinners are kind of taken out of it a little bit at the MCG. Adil Rashid is such a crucial player within this line-up and how Australia plays him is going to be important.
“But also there‘s a dilemma for Jos Buttler in does he get an extra bowler in or does he pad the batting so that they score heavy to take the pressure off the bowlers? If they’re batting second, they have the freedom to know that they can go big up top with batters to come. It’s a big one for Jos.
“The problem he‘s got at the moment is that Ben Stokes isn’t necessarily firing with the bat. You can get some overs with the ball from him, but again are you going to bowl him at the death? Does he try and look at Mark Wood at the death as well?
“There‘s still a few things to be worked out. It’s going to make for a very exciting Friday night showdown.”
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Guha said she would’ve liked one of Mills or Jordan to have played against Ireland to build some confidence ahead of Friday’s match.
But Guha said there’d be just as much pressure on the Aussies on Friday night considering they now know “every game is a knockout for them”.
The Australian player most under the pump is veteran opener and skipper Aaron Finch, who’s produced two scratchy innings – 13 off 11 balls against New Zealand before an unbeaten 31 from 42 deliveries against Sri Lanka – from the team’s first two World Cup matches.
Australian great Mark Waugh this week called for Finch to be dropped and replaced at the top of the order by emerging star Cameron Green.
But Guha said the Aussies were unlikely to make significant calls on Finch, including not moving him to the middle order like they did in recent T20I games against the West Indies and England.
Guha said she saw some validity in the idea but doubted whether Australia would want to pull off such a bold move against England.
“It feels like a bit of an upheaval, given the plan all along has been that he will open. But I do see that, because he‘s such a good player of spin and you could quite easily have a Marcus Stoinis open the batting for Australia,” she said.
“But I don‘t think they will change it up, just because it’s such a big game. But, I mean, that might be the reason they do change it up.
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“It’s hard one, finding that balance of backing yourself and ability versus what’s right for the team.”
The Australian camp is confident key spinner Adam Zampa will be healthy to play against England after being ruled out of Tuesday night’s win over Sri Lanka due to Covid.
Replacement Ashton Agar bowled well in Zampa’s absence – he took 1-25 from his allotted four overs – but conceded post-game he was expecting to make way for Zampa and lose his spot.
But Guha said Australian selectors should look to play both Agar and Zampa in the same T20 side.
“The only thing I think they‘ll consider is how they get Ashton Agar into the side, because he’s so valuable to this team. Especially on home soil, he just knows the grounds and where to bowl and he keeps things pretty tight,” she said.
“I think at the MCG, the left arm spinner was the most hittable on Sunday night (in the India-Pakistan game), so maybe not for the next game as Zampa comes back. But certainly in the rest of the group matches.”
