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Australia and Pakistan square off in Match 17 of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in London. That match is scheduled for June 12, 2019, at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton.
As of June 5th, Australia has played just one match. The reigning world champions knocked off Afghanistan in Match 4 of the tournament. The Aussies are slated to face West Indies in Match 10 on Thursday, June 6th and India in Match 14 on June 9th prior to this matchup.
On the other hand, Pakistan has played twice in the current tournament and has one win and a loss to their name. The Pakistanis dropped their tournament opener to the West Indies but bounced back to score a huge upset over the host nations and favorites England. Pakistan faces Sri Lanka in Match 11 on Friday, June 7th before proceeding to this fixture.
Australia
Australia won this tournament four years ago but since the 2017 Champions Trophy, the Aussies struggled to find their winning form, losing 18 out of 22 ODIs. But they re-emerged as contenders after away series wins over India and Pakistan. The return of Steve Smith and David Warner have given the defending champions a boost. Australia won its opening match of the tournament, beating Afghanistan by seven wickets.
Below are the members of Australia’s Cricket team to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup:
Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan
When it comes to World Cup accomplishments, Pakistan is among the most consistent teams. They made three straight trips to the semifinals from 1979 to 1987. Then they won the 1992 Cricket World Cup champions and were a finalist again in 1999. Pakistan were semifinalists again in 2011 and made it to the final eight in the last installment of the Cricket World Cup in 2015. However, Pakistan entered this tournament in poor form with just three wins in their last 20 ODIs. They lost to West Indies in their opener but they bounced back with a stunning upset of hosts and cricket betting favorites England in their second match.
Here is the list of players for Pakistan’s 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup team:
Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz.
Who Wins?
Pakistan began their World Cup campaign on a sour note as they suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of West Indies. It was a poor batting effort as Pakistan was bowled out for only 105 runs. Their top order batsmen had trouble with the short ball and were bounced out. Neither Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, the top batsmen in the team, scored over 30. Meanwhile, their bowling effort was okay with Mohammad Amir taking three wickets with pace and venom during his spell.
But they turned things around in their next match, doing so against the hosts and favorites England. Pakistan’s batsmen set up their win over the hosts with Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam and Sarfraz Ahmed all scoring half-centuries which pushed the team to a total close to 350. Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz also bowled very well against the English. Khan was particularly impressive as he took out top batsmen Joe Root and Jason Roy.
Opener David Warner powered his team to victory and Australia hopes he can duplicate his 89-run effort against Pakistan. Aaron Finch also scored 66 runs to give Warner ample support and help Australia chase down the total. Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa also bowled well with three wickets each but at times during the match, the two were expensive. Overall though, it was the kind of start that Australia needed to jumpstart their title defense.
There are still several matches before this game happens. But based on their most recent performance, Pakistan has the tools to compete with the elite teams. Australia has played only once so far and based on that performance, there isn’t much to dislodge them as favorites in this match. Pakistan needs to be on top of their game to have a chance at another upset. But I think Australia has enough on both sides to get a victory here. Prediction: Australia.
