England vs Australia preview: Betting odds, fantasy picks, possible playing-11 and more

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday will welcome rivals Australia and England as the two teams will lock horns at the iconic venue for the 26th match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.

The match will be a fiercely contested one as the team winning the contest will strengthen its bid for a place in the semifinal while the losing side will have its semifinal dreams take a massive hit.

England and Australia both sit at two points each in Group 1 of the Super 12 after playing two games each.

England started their World Cup campaign in style as they blanked Afghanistan by 5 wickets in their opening fixture. But England's campaign hit a roadblock after Ireland defeated the Jos Buttler-led side at the Sydney Cricket Ground by 5 runs on DLS method in a rain-affected match.

In stark contrast, defending champions and hosts Australia were off to a poor start in the tournament after they were defeated by their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand by 89 runs. But Australia bounced back from the shock defeat by thrashing Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in their next fixture.

Although England and Australia have the same number of points in Group 1, England are better placed than Australia in the group.  Australia's large defeat at the hands of New Zealand have left them with a poor net run rate of -1.555 compared to England's net run rate of +0.239. This means that a victory alone at the MCG will not be sufficient for the Aussies to keep their semis hopes alive. Australia will not only have to win the match but win the match convincingly to make up for the poor net run rate.

The greatest concern for Australia is the inability of the openers David Warner and Aaron Finch to get fast starts and notch big scores. Warner has been dismissed on the scores of 5 and 11 in the two matches.  Finch managed just 13 in 11 balls against the Kiwis before coming up with a slowish 31 in 42 deliveries versus Sri Lanka. The Australian captain was candid to acknowledge that his knock against the Lankans was not good enough.

Batting woes aside, the Australian camp has been hit with the COVID-19 virus. First legspinner Adam Zampa tested positive for COVID-19 ruled him out for the match against the Blackcaps.  Now ahead of the game against England, wicketkeeper Mathew Wade has also tested positive for COVID-19. Wade's health issue is a big concern for the Australian camp as the squad doesn't have a back-up wicketkeeper.  If Wade does miss the match, then we could see one of either Finch, Warner of Glenn Maxwell keep wickets. But non of these three players is a specialized keeper so Australia will have to make the best use of the resources available to them.

In the opposite camp, England's captain Jos Buttler would hope that his big-hitting batsmen come good. The likes of Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, and Buttler himself haven't been at their explosive best in the two matches.

Both teams will be relying on their bowling units to deliver goods as they would be looking to end up on the winning side at the MCG.