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England v Australia: Everything you need to know

Steve Smith - cropped

Steve Smith is confident his Australia side can rise to the challenge in Saturday's must-win ICC Champions Trophy match against England at Edgbaston.

England - runners-up the two times they have previously hosted this event - are already assured of a place in the semi-finals following wins over Bangladesh and New Zealand.

However, Australia have yet to complete a fixture, with rain ruining their first two matches, and must therefore win in Birmingham to leapfrog Bangladesh into second place in Group A.

"It's obviously a must-win match for us. It usually does bring out the best of the Australia cricket team in big tournaments, so let's hope this is the case tomorrow," said Smith in a news conference on Friday.

"It's not ideal we haven't got through a full fixture yet, but we can't control the weather. We can only control what we're doing, and we've prepared really well in the nets.

"The guys are looking forward to the game. It's essentially a quarter-final for us."

Australia have only once failed to progress to the knockout stages of a Champions Trophy, although that underwhelming campaign did occur in England four years ago.

 

KEY PLAYERS:

England may not need to win, but Jason Roy is certainly under plenty of pressure to perform after a torrid run of form that has put his place in the side under threat. His two previous ODI innings at Edbgaston have yielded a duck and a century, the latter innings coming in a 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka in June 2016.

Given England's habit of posting sizeable ODI totals since the 2015 World Cup, an Australian seam attack spearheaded by Mitchell Starc will need to be at the top of their game. The left-armer's ODI bowling average is a sparkling 19.89.

 

PROBABLE LINE-UPS:

England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood, Jake Ball.

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith (captain), Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Lynn, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

 

LAST ODI MEETING: 

In 2015, Australia ended a tour of England that had featured an Ashes defeat by winning the subsequent ODI series 3-2. The final match saw England thrashed by eight wickets at Old Trafford, Morgan retiring hurt during his side's innings of 138 all out after being hit on the helmet by Starc.

 

QUOTES:

"This is a really good ground for us. We love coming here. It's normally a beautiful wicket and a high-scoring ground, and that suits us. We always seem to get results here. That's part of home advantage." - Morgan is happy to be at Edgbaston for England's final group game.

"I think they've come a long way. I think they're playing some very good cricket, particularly here at home. They've got some dangerous players that we're going to have to keep quiet. We're certainly going to have to be at our best tomorrow." Smith outlines the challenge facing Australia.

 

OPTA STATS:

- Australia have won 12 of their last 15 ODIs against England and overall have a 60 per cent win rate against their old rival.

- This will be the fifth Champions Trophy clash between these sides. The record stands at two wins apiece so far, with both of England’s wins coming at Edgbaston.

- England have won 10 of their last 11 ODIs and have a win rate of 77 per cent in 2017 (10/13), the best of any side to play 10 or more ODIs this year.

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