Lahore (Pakistan), February 22: Australia’s captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bowl first against England in their ongoing Champions Trophy match at Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday. This high-stakes encounter features two of cricket’s oldest rivals, with England arriving in Lahore after a 3-0 defeat in their ODI series against India.
Australia, meanwhile, will be without its celebrated pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood, who were unavailable for the tournament after a tough series in Sri Lanka. Despite the absence of their star pacers, Australia will look to their emerging bowlers to step up and deliver the goods.
After winning the toss, Steve Smith shared his thoughts: “We’re gonna have a bowl. It looks like a pretty good surface. There was a bit of dew when we were practising, so we’d like to chase later on. We’ve got a good lineup with Short, Head, myself, Marnus, Inglis, Carey, Maxwell, Dwarshuis, Ellis, Spencer Johnson, and Zampa. There’s a bit of swing up top; we’ll try to utilise that. Carey has been batting brilliantly.”
England’s captain Jos Buttler also weighed in, saying, “We would have batted as well, it’s a pretty even call. It looks like a good surface, and we’re excited for the match. On Jamie Smith, he’s very unflappable and has immense talent.”
Australia Playing XI:
Matthew Short, Travis Head, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
England Playing XI:
Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith (w), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood