Match Facts

Who: Australia v England

When: Sunday June 9. Coin toss at 2:30am AEST, first ball at 3:00am (Saturday June 8, 1:00pm local time)

Where: Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

How to watch: Prime Video

Officials: Joel Wilson and Nitin Menon (standing), Asif Yaqoob (third), Jayaraman Madanagopal (fourth).

Live scores: Australia v England match centre

The squads

Australia: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short

Both sides have a clean bill of health going into the highly anticipated Group B clash. Pat Cummins was left out of the XI against Oman but isn’t battling an injury concerns. Mitch Starc left the field in that match with a cramping calf but is expected to be right for Saturday.

England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood

Although we only saw 10 overs of their match against Scotland, the England squad are in good form following a comprehensive display in a home series against Pakistan on the eve of the World Cup.

How to watch

It’s a new era for watching World Cup cricket in Australia.

All 55 matches of the tournament will be shown live on Amazon’s Prime Video online subscription streaming service after the internet giant recently acquired the Aussie broadcast rights for all ICC events for the next four years. There will be no free-to-air Australian broadcast of this World Cup as a result.

For more detail, or to sign up for Prime Video, click here.

How to recap

Everything you could need will be right here on cricket.com.au. 

We’ll have a live blog in play during the match, so even if you miss some live play you can catch up on the big moments as they happened. 

Interviews, highlights and the Unplayable Podcast will all review what took place and keep you informed on the key takeaways. 

Local knowledge

Australia have improved their T20 record at the iconic coastal venue to  3-4 after knocking off Oman here on Wednesday.

England have a 6-6 record here but have lost their past two completed matches at the venue.

The two sides have met here before, 14 years ago in the final of the 2020 ‘World T20’ which England won by seven wickets. Will they meet here again in four weeks time for the final of this tournament?

Possible starting XIs

Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

 

England: Jos Buttler (c, wk), Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid

Does Pat Cummins comes back into the side? Nathan Ellis certainly did his chances no harm at all, taking 2-28 from his four overs against Oman. Maybe a chance for Mitchell Starc to sit out, considering he didn’t complete his fourth over in the last match with cramp. Expect the top order to stay as is for Australia, as the time in the middle they got against Oman on the Kensington Oval pitch will have them better for the run.

England should go in unchanged as well, given how little of the match was actually played against the Scots. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood weren’t that effective in wet conditions, but you feel like they’ll have another gear to go to when they face the Aussies.

Players to watch

Glenn Maxwell begun the campaign with a first-baller against Oman to continue a miserable run of form stretching back to the IPL, but he was victim to an all-time great catch by Aqib Ilyas. The mercurial Maxwell missed Australia’s most recent World Cup clash with their Ashes rivals after falling off a golf cart in Ahmedabad during the ODI World Cup last year, and will be eager to make an impact against the familiar foe. With so many right handers in the England line up, it will be fascinating to see how much he bowls, but he showed in India he is as effective against the righties as he is the lefties.

It’s been almost four years since Jofra Archer faced Australia in any format, which was during the ODI series in Manchester in 2020. Since then the Barbados-born quick has had to overcome multiple injuries and his appearances for England have been rare. Archer made his T20 World Cup debut in the washout against Scotland, bowling two overs for 12 runs in an innocuous showing, but if he, along with pace partner Mark Wood get it right on Saturday, things will be tough for the Aussies.

Recent form

Past 10 T20 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result 

Australia: WWWWLWWLLW

A good hitout for Australia to open the tournament, dealing with some good competition and a tough surface to defeat Oman by 39 runs on Wednesday. The Aussies have played some great T20 cricket since the start of the calendar year, winning five of their six matches in 2024 so far. That comprises a 2-1 win over West Indies at home and a 3-0 sweep of New Zealand across the ditch in late February.

England: NWNWNLWWLL

The tournament’s reigning champions had a frustrating start to their campaign with a washout against Scotland saw only 10 overs able to be bowled for the match. It leaves England at the mercy of more wet weather and makes this match a must-win clash. Their form before arriving in the Caribbean was very good, winning the four-match series against Pakistan 2-0 (with two washouts). England haven’t played any other T20Is in 2024. All those washouts mean England have only played two completed matches this year, but with the amount of cricket played elsewhere it’s not as if this team is short on match practice.

World Cup standings

Last time they met

On both of the past two occasions that these sides were scheduled to meet, rain has intervened. The most recent was during the T20 World Cup in 2022 on a soggy night in Melbourne where not even one ball could be bowled. A fortnight earlier the sides met in Canberra, but rain saved Australia who had slumped to 3-30 chasing 130 in 12 overs.

Head-to-head

Matches: 23

England wins: 11

Australia wins: 10

No result: 2

Rapid stats

• Chris Jordanneeds two wickets to reach 100 in T20Is, which would make him the second England man to reach the milestone behind teammate Adil Rashid (110)
• Marcus Stoinis passed fifty (67no) and took three wickets (3-19) against Oman, becoming the first Australian man to achieve the double since Mitch Marsh (75 and 3-24) against West Indies in 2021.
• Australia andEngland are currently ranked second and third on the ICC T20I Team rankings respectively. India hold top spot.
• If selected, it will be Pat Cummins’ first-ever outing in the Caribbean, who despite having 202 international matches to his name, has never played a game in the West Indies

Where to next?

Australia move over to Antigua for their next match, which is against Namibia on June 11. England head there too, with a match against Oman on June 13.  

2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup

Australia’s squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Australia’s Group B fixtures

June 6: Beat Oman by 39 runs

June 9: v England, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 3am AEST

June 12: v Namibia, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua, 10.30am AEST

June 16: v Scotland, Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia, 10.30am AEST

Super Eights, finals to follow if Australia qualify

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