Lahore: Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bowl first against England in their first Group B game of the 2025 Champions Trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.
Both teams arrive in Saturday’s match on the back of ODI series defeats in the subcontinent. While England suffered a 3-0 loss in India, Australia lost both of its ODIs in Colombo to Sri Lanka, a side who aren’t part of the ongoing Champions Trophy.
After winning the toss, Smith said that in-form wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey finds a spot in the playing eleven. “Looks a pretty good surface. There’s a bit of dew when we were practising, so we’ll like to chase later on. Short, Head, myself, Marnus, Inglis, Carey, Maxwell, Dwarshuis, Ellis, Spencer Johnson and Zampa.”
“Little bit of swing up top, we’ll try to utilise that as much as possible (by playing two left-arm pacers in Dwarshuis and Johnson). He’s (Carey) been batting really nicely. The two keepers (Carey and Inglis) played together in the Test matches, worked out well and both are quality batters. Always exciting, looking forward to getting started today,” he said.
England skipper Jos Buttler said he probably would have batted. “A bit of a 50-50 decision. Looks a good surface. We are not trying to hide anything. We’re really excited. The guys seem in a really good place,” he said.
On Jamie Smith’s return, Buttler added, “Very unflappable, immense talent with a great head on his shoulders. Gives us a chance to have a dynamic top three and some good guys behind him.”
Playing XIs
Australia: Matt Short, Travis Head, Steve Smith (captain), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, and Spencer Johnson.
England: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (captain), Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, and Mark Wood.
(IANS)
