The T20 World Cup kicks up another notch on Friday night with a high-stakes blockbuster between traditional rivals Australia and England at the MCG.
The tournament will be all but over for whoever suffers defeat on Friday night (7pm AEDT).
However, rain in Melbourne could provide a curveball for the nations with the city’s forecast looking gloomy for Friday evening.
As of 3.30pm AEDT, the Bureau of Meteorology was forecasting a 90 per cent chance of between two and six millimetres of rain in the Melbourne area.
Rain has already heavily impacted Ireland’s match against Afghanistan at the same ground.
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MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs England, live scoreboard, stats, video and more
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PREVIEW
Australia has been pushed to the brink of disaster after a heavy loss in its opener against New Zealand, while the same has happened to England after being upset by Ireland in a rain-affected match on Wednesday.
Rarely have the two nations faced off in a white ball match with more on the line.
The last time the two met with stakes this high was in the 2019 ODI World Cup semi finals.
Australia enters the match off a win after Marcus Stoinis’ 17-ball half-century guided the hosts to a crucial victory over Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
England is fresh off a loss — and is searching for answers with a number of its big names misfiring.
Among those is Ben Stokes, who hasn’t scored more than 20 runs in a T20I since making his return from an 18-month hiatus this month.
New England coach Matthew Mott fired a warning shot before Friday’s match, saying that Stokes could be back with a vengeance against Australia.
“I think he’s bowled some big overs, particularly in the Powerplay,” Mott said.
“With the bat, he hasn’t come off yet. But his career would suggest that at some point someone’s going to pay a price, and hopefully that’s Australia.”
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Meanwhile, Australia will need to turn in a vastly improved performance with the bat having been lacklustre to outright poor in the first two matches.
Australia was bowled out for 111 against New Zealand and was just 3-89 after 12.2 overs against Sri Lanka before Stoinis came to the rescue.
It has led to many notable figures calling for Steve Smith to return to the Australian XI, most likely for the out-of-sorts Aaron Finch.
On Friday, Allan Border told foxsports.com.au that he would open the batting with Smith, while Michael Vaughan also told the publication that the right-hander should play.
“I do think that there is a place in a team for a player like Steve Smith,” Vaughan told foxsports.com.au.
“I do think in most T20 teams you do need a real skilful player who can manoeuvre the ball against seam, spin, hit the gaps. It’s not all about whacking sixes and fours, it’s about manipulating the field.“I don’t know how much of an impact he has (as a leader), but clearly he’s a great player and I was shocked to see him not in there.”
Former England coach Trevor Bayliss is the latest to back Smith for a re-call, writing in the Daily Mail that Australia is “missing a trick”.
“I would get him in there somewhere if I was Australia but it would be a big surprise if they did so,” Bayliss added.
HOW TO WATCH
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WEATHER UPDATES (as of 3.30pm AEDT)
The Bureau says there’s a very high (90 per cent) chance of showers for Melbourne for the rest of Friday with a possible rainfall of 2- 6 millimetres.
TEAMS
Australia XI (possible): Aaron Finch, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
England XI (possible): Jos Buttler (wk), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
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