Lord’s cricket ground, the Mecca of cricket - on a sunny morning of June 9, 1979, I was sitting in the stands with Jock Livingtston, ex-Australian cricketer, wicket-keeper and opening batsman who played alongside the legendary Don Bradman for New South Wales in the late 1940s. Jock, as he was affectionately called, was the Director of Gray-Nicolls - one of the leading cricket bat manufacturers in the world. He came to the shores of England when he was signed by Northampton in the English county circuit. I will write a bit more about Jock when it is appropriate to do so as we became good friends over the years.
It was one of the opening matches of the Prudential (as it was called then) World Cup that saw two legendary cricketing rivals confront each other. While England was at full strength, the Australians were a completely new outfit severely depleted of its strength due to the players ban, a consequence of the Kerry Packer Series. Led by a young, curly haired Kim Hughes, Australia came to the World Cup with its 2nd XI. That Australian team also provided to the world Allan Border, who eventually became a name for the record books as a leading batsman. A pugnacious left hander, Border led Australia to a World Cup title. In 1979, the cricketing world also saw, for the first time, a young, slim curly haired left hander debut for England. David Gower also hit the headlines and soon enough established his place as a world class batsman over the years to come.
Head to head, England and Australia have met each other 6 times on the World Cup stage with England winning only once, which was in 1992. While Australia has won the title 4 times, England came close to winning it in 3 times. In 1979, they were comprehensively beaten by the West Indies, in 1987 they fought gallantly but lost to Australia by 7 runs and, in 1992 they shockingly lost to Imran Khan and his Pakistani unit. While England, being one of the top sides on a consistent basis, failed to have its name carved on the Trophy, Australia somehow managed to come up with the right combination to win the title more than any other nation.
Once again, for the 7th time in World Cup history and for the second time in an opener, these two rivals meet. Will England manage to turn things around? On paper and on their recent performances the match is tilted in Australia’s favour. However, like any professional team, Eoin Morgan and his band will erase the memories of the recent past including those of the recently concluded Tri-Nation series and show up with a different mind frame. The Australian strength lies in a monster of an opening batting pair with David Warner and Aaron Finch, followed by some creative players like Steve Smith, Michael Clarke, who now seems certain to play, and Glenn Maxwell. Some of the lesser power players like Shane Watson and Brad Haddin will be added bonus if they come good. Then there is no stopping this Australian team from marching on.
If we compare head to head with the team’s batting strength, Australia definitely has the edge over England, whose batting has to be heavily reliant on Ian Bell and to some extent on Morgan, who so far has been having a miserable time in the warm up matches. If the supporting cast of Gary Ballance, James Taylor, Moeen Ali and Joe Root don’t keep the fire burning, then England will not only crumble in the opener but will also fizzle out in their matches against the others. We saw how they struggled against Pakistan in the warm up game, especially against the leg spin of Yasir Shah. The loss to Pakistan, after their one-sided win against the West Indies, will not go well in their dressing room. They will need to mentally overcome this loss immediately.
While Australia will have the luxury to pick from a pool of exceptional fast bowlers, England will have to be careful in its selection. Between Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood they have a lethal arsenal and with Maxwell providing some spin, the Aussies have an extremely potent force. England has a nice variety but again if you compare player to player, England falls behind to some extent. Other than James Anderson and Steven Finn, and perhaps Chris Woakes I don’t see the Australian batting line up getting shaken by the English bowling.
Nevertheless, the cricket world should be prepared for an exciting encounter. If England does show up in their uniform with some degree of pride, they will not only make the Aussies sweat but may even romp home with a win. Otherwise, the “Barmy Army” will try their luck in fostering goodwill by going further “Down Under” with plenty of “Foster” to keep them company.