All You Need to Know: Australia’s tour of England

When is it? 

Australia will play their first international match in almost six months with the first of three T20s against England on Friday night UK time (3am Saturday AEST). The three-match T20 series will be played entirely at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton while the three ODIs that follow will be played at Old Trafford in Manchester, the two venues that have been bio-secure hubs for all international cricket in England this year. 

September 4: 1st T20, Southampton, 3am AEST Sept 5 

September 6: 2nd T20, Southampton, 11.15pm AEST 

September 8: 3rd T20, Southampton, 3am AEST Sept 9 

September 11: 1st ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST 

September 13: 2nd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST 

September 16: 3rd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST 

How to watch  

The series will be broadcast live in Australia on Fox Cricket and also streamed live on Kayo Sport. And given the time difference is far from ideal for Australian audiences, you can get all the scores, full reports and extensive highlights on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app first thing in the morning after every match, ensuring you won’t miss any of the big moments. 

Team news 

Australia have taken an extended 21-man squad to England for this campaign, ensuring they have all bases covered given they can’t easily fly players in and out due to the strict biosecurity measures. The tourists are basically at full strength for their first campaign since the COVID-19 pandemic brought world sport to a halt; Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith will lead the batting alongside Glenn Maxwell, who is back in Australian colours for the first time since November, while star quicks Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will all make life difficult for England’s batsmen. 

Australia's T20 and ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa 

England will be without World Cup winners Jason Roy (injury) and Ben Stokes (personal reasons), while Test skipper Joe Root has been picked in the ODI side but again been left out of their T20 squad. Having missed their white-ball matches so far this season due to Test duty, red-ball stars like Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Root are all back in the coloured clothing. 

England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood. Reserves: Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood 

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood. Reserves: Joe Denly, Saqib Mahmood 

Players to watch 

With regular opener Jason Roy unavailable for the T20s and possibly the ODIs as well due to injury, it’s presented Brisbane Heat young gun Tom Banton with a golden chance to impress.  

With Roy and Jonny Bairstow regular selections at the top of the order, most of Banton’s early games of international cricket have come in the middle order, where he’s had mixed results. But Roy’s injury has allowed him to move up to his favoured opening spot and he opened the series against Pakistan last week with a blistering innings of 71 from 42 balls, including five sixes, and added scores of 20 and 46 to finish the campaign. 

The Australians are no stranger to the powerful right-hander after his barnstorming cameo in last summer’s KFC BBL and they’ll no doubt be on high alert for more fireworks over the coming weeks. 

While there is no shortage of stars in the Australian side, most interest surrounds the return of Glenn Maxwell for his first national campaign since late last year. 

The allrounder took a break from the game last November and a combination of injury and the pandemic means he hasn’t played for Australia since, a wait of more than 10 months making it his longest gap between international games since he debuted back in 2012. 

One of the first picked in Australia’s T20 side, the right-hander will be desperate to prove himself again in one-day cricket after a disappointing World Cup last year and he opened the tour with an impressive century in Australia’s warm-up game earlier this week. 

What’s this new ICC Super League all about? 

The one-dayers on this tour will be Australia’s first in the ICC’s new Cricket World Cup Super League, which will run over the next two years and act as a qualifier for the next 50-over World Cup in 2023. 

Each of the 13 teams in the Super League will play three ODIs against eight other teams in the next two years, with 10 points awarded for a win. 

At the end of the two-year cycle, the top seven ranked teams as well as the World Cup hosts (in the case of the 2023 tournament, India) will automatically qualify for the game’s showpiece event. 

That means the remaining five teams will be forced into a qualifier tournament, from which the final two spots at the World Cup will be decided. 

The league is designed to bring greater context to all ODI cricket and the benefit of it was on display in England’s three-match series against Ireland earlier this year. Despite England holding a 2-0 lead and the final match being a dead rubber in the series, Ireland’s victory in that last game secured them 10 valuable points in the Super League, which could well prove the difference in their quest for World Cup qualification.