Old school v flat-track bullies: Conservative Australian batsmen take on England's gung-ho merchants

The meeting of England and Australia on Tuesday is one of contrasting styles when it comes to batting.

Australia have taken the old-fashioned route as India have — they don't go mad during that first powerplay.

They assess conditions because their star players at the top, Aaron Finch and David Warner, not only catch up later but hurt the opposition with big scores.

Finch and Warner are dynamic batsmen who are outstanding Twenty20 players, let alone ODI players, and because they're that good, Australia don't want them to be reckless in the early overs.

Nor do they want them to get out soon afterwards. The worst thing you can do is use up those 10 overs, get 30 off 40 deliveries, then give it away.

They have avoided this, and to my mind the criticism of them scoring too slowly at the start of innings has been a bit harsh. Such criticism would be valid if they were playing in an 'I'm all right, Jack' kind of way but they're not, they're making hundreds.

Arguably, the reason they don't get the 350-400 team totals England manage regularly with their more modern approach is because of where their team has come from in the past few months.

Usman Khawaja took his chance while Warner and Steve Smith were serving their bans, so there are now various people who want to bat in the top three.

As one of the greats of the modern game, Smith should be going in first wicket down but they have Khawaja who, if he drops down the order — and he deserves to be batting three on his recent stats — gets in the way of their hitters Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Alex Carey.

They have sucked it up a little by persisting with Khawaja at three and if Smith comes in at four it only enhances the feeling they're playing in an old-fashioned way. It undoubtedly slows them down.

As it happens, this tournament has helped Australia, a country that tends to produce good tournament teams. We have not seen the monster scores we thought might dominate this World Cup.

Although the pitches have been good, they have not all been flat belters. They have brought Australia's style of cricket to the fore and taken away from the strength of England, who would like every pitch to be like the one at Old Trafford on which they made all but 400 against Afghanistan.

Australia want pitches like Lord's — ones on which teams post 300 and defend it, as Pakistan did against South Africa on Sunday. England don't.

Of all their home venues, England's record at Lord's is the worst. They have a win percentage of just 45.2 and its low-scoring nature — the average score batting first over the past 10 years is 264 — doesn't suit their style.

Equally, if England qualify for the semis, they will want to be in the Old Trafford one, on a belter of a surface, as opposed to the Edgbaston one which might grip and stick if recent evidence is anything to go by.

England aren't one-trick ponies and they can thrive on different pitches, but when they have a blip like they had at Headingley last Friday, it does open wounds up. On Tuesday, they have the ability to adjust and show what happened against Sri Lanka is not terminal.

England have the opportunity to attack Australia's back-up bowlers. At the top they are excellent. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are as good as it gets, and England will have to be switched on, but after that how good are they? I am not sure.

Should spinner Adam Zampa be threatening them? There's one opportunity for them. Then, there's Maxwell and Stoinis — someone who at times looks like the perfect all-rounder and at others like he's a bits-and-pieces cricketer filling in.

The middle overs will be key. England have to go hard during this period, not least because Starc is brilliant at the death.

Captain Eoin Morgan has never doubted England, and they won't be doubting themselves. But there are no freebies now.

England have possibly five games left and need to win three or four of them to lift the World Cup. They will face top opposition on different pitches, which will require them to show they are not just flat-track bullies.

Tournament cricket, and the handling of pressure, is different from bilateral cricket. It's how you cope from game to game.

In the absence of Jason Roy, which is a massive loss, if James Vince nicks off and Jonny Bairstow doesn't feel comfortable without Roy alongside him, they could be 30 for two again and then it will be the question of whether to stick or twist. They need to back themselves and go hard, as they have done in the past.

In a tournament, you are more than likely to have a hiccup or two. Now is the time to go again. How did they get to No 1 in the world? Well, when they lost a bilateral game, they didn't change the way they played unless conditions dictated. I have seen them win many games by sticking to their aggressive policy. I don't recall them losing because of it.

England haven't beaten Australia in a World Cup match since 1992 and in my era that might have led to our team saying, 'Crikey, it's this lot again'. But I don't think the modern England cricketer fears Australia.

They might have huge respect for them but there is no fear factor in Test or white-ball cricket.

Source: Daily Mail

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