Commentator and ex-England Captain Michael Vaughan at today's fixture release in Melbourne with Aaron Finch, Michael Hussey and T20 World Cup CEO Michelle Enright (Photo: MCG/Twitter)
Despite their recent failure with the red ball here in Australia, ex England captain Michael Vaughan believes that England will be one of the teams to beat for this year’s T20 World Cup.
The 2022 World Cup fixture was announced today, with England in a tough Group 1 which includes defending world champions Australia, New Zealand, and Afghanistan.
England will begin their tournament against Afghanistan over in Perth on the first day of the Super 12s stage of the tournament on October 22nd.
It was an Ashes series to forget though for the struggling English test side. But, ex-captain Michael Vaughan said at the 2022 T20 World Cup fixture release that England’s white-ball setup is well set up and placed to win its second ICC trophy in four years.
“Australian test cricket are miles ahead, in white-ball cricket, I still think England are right up there, I still think they’re very competitive,” Vaughan said.
“You look at the ages of the England side they’re a group that played a six-year period together and they will have to start transitioning one or two of the older players out of the team and bringing a little bit of new.
“But there’s plenty of depth there and it’s just when England decide to do that.”
However, despite being confident about England’s chances, Vaughan thinks that Australia will be the team to beat this time around.
“This Australian team, the group, and when you look at the likes of Mitchell Marsh of what he’s done in white-ball cricket and you see the way Maxwell is playing, Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Warner, Finch, so much experience in that batting lineup, but it’s the bowling that’s got some nice variation,” he said.
“Australia are going to be favourites for this one without any question, they’re champions and they’re on home soil, won the 50-over World Cup here in 2015, they’ll be the team to beat.
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England has been one of the most successful white-ball sides in recent times, with their powerful batting a key factor in that success. However, despite that success, Vaughan said that there is one position of problem.
“The one position you could argue England may have to look at it over the next few months is if Eoin Morgan doesn’t fire with the bat, what will they do going into the World Cup because they’ve got five or six people that could captain the side,” he said.
“He’ll be desperate and I hope he gets to the T20 world cup, but if he doesn’t find form with the bat it wouldn’t surprise me if England had Jos Buttler captaining in a few month’s time.
They’ll be looking to bounce back from last year’s World Cup following a disappointing exit in the semi-final against New Zealand. And Vaughan said one of the reasons why they lost was their death bowling.
“Tymal Mills got injured that was a big blow, Jofra [Archer] obviously wasn’t there,” he said.
“I think if those two are fit and firing England will be better in those back overs, if they’re not fit it’s gonna be a worry once again to see how England close out games with the ball in hand.”
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