Australia open to batting shake-up for must-win clash

Matthew Wade admits Australia's hammering at the hands of England could prompt a tactical shift in a T20 World Cup title tilt now seemingly dependent on avoiding any further slip-ups.

South Africa's comprehensive win over Bangladesh on Tuesday evening, coupled with Australia's sobering loss to England on the weekend, means Aaron Finch's side will need wins in their final two group-stage games against Bangladesh (Thursday 9pm AEDT) and West Indies (Saturday) to secure a semi-final berth given their poor net run-rate.

Wade suggested Australia's batting order could become more fluid if bowler-friendly conditions like the ones they encountered against England in Dubai, the venue for their match against Bangladesh as well as the tournament final, are prevalent again.

It was a surprise to some to see Maxwell, Australia's most in-form player heading in to the World Cup, sent in to bat during the Powerplay in the midst of a devastating new-ball spell from Chris Woakes that effectively decided the match.

Maxwell, who has batted during the Powerplay just once in his past 15 T20 Internationals for Australia and did not come in before the end of the sixth over at all during his dominant second stage of the Indian Premier League, lasted nine balls before Woakes dismissed him lbw.

Australia have previously looked to utilise the right-hander, who has a noted strength against spin bowling, later in the innings to the point of demoting him down the order if they lose early wickets.

Wade conceded the Aussies had been caught by surprise by the conditions against England and said he could be a candidate to bat higher up if a similar situation ensued in the coming games.

"To be honest going into that game we didn't expect the ball to nip like it did," the wicketkeeper, speaking as an ambassador for men's health charity Movember, told cricket.com.au.

"If anything the wickets have been pretty good, pretty true, maybe a little low. We thought (off-spinner) Moeen (Ali) would probably bowl in the Powerplay, (leg-spinner Adil) Rashid would bowl in the Powerplay so then to use Maxi where we used him, that would be no problems if he faced 2-3 overs in the Powerplay.

"It (changing the batting order) was spoken about but it was agreed on that we wanted to get 'Maxi' out there whenever we can, especially when spin's on, so let's just settle to a similar order to the first two games and not shift everyone too much.

"In hindsight with the ball nipping around like that, maybe we wouldn't have done it like that and maybe we would have done it differently.

"But we didn't have too much time – we lost 2-3 quick ones – to work it out in that moment.

"It was agreed on that I'd stay at six the other night (against England) but if the ball nips around like it did then I might go in a bit earlier and we'll use Maxi and 'Smudger' (Steve Smith) through the middle a bit more against the spin."

There is some precedent for such a move.

While Maxwell has generally batted at No.4 in recent years for Australia's T20 team, he has previously been protected during an early collapse.

That occurred during Australia's first T20I against New Zealand in February in Christchurch, though it mattered a little as his side lost a third wicket in the Powerplay, meaning he was soon in at No.5 against the new ball anyway.

He was demoted even further, to No.6 during the second T20I on the Aussies' tour of England last year in Southampton, with both Alex Carey and Marcus Stoinis sent in above him after the loss of three early wickets.

Whatever Australia decide, Wade did note a small silver lining from their defeat to England; the batting ability of their tail.

The Aussies were 5-51 when Wade was out in the 12th over before Ashton Agar (20 off 20), Pat Cummins (12 off three) and Mitchell Starc (13 off six) hit the only five sixes of the innings to at least give their side a modest total to bowl at (125).

Whether Australia restore Mitch Marsh to the No.3 spot and go in with just the four specialist bowlers, or stick to the five-bowler approach they tried against England, Wade believes the middle order can bat with more freedom knowing there is fire-power to come.

"Going in you think you're playing a batter short but the way those guys are hitting, especially Agar whose batting has come on leaps and bounds in the last 12 months, then certainly we've got the confidence with who's behind us to play fearlessly," said Wade.

"The one thing that playing with six batters showed is the depth we have in our order. If our openers can get off to a decent start then guys can go pretty hard through the middle.

"What Agar and Cummins and even Starcy (showed) we've got plenty of batting.

"It opened my eyes to just how much power we have through that bottom order, even if we go back to playing seven batters."

For a 14th year, Cricket Australia is joining forces with Movember in support of men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Sign up or donate at Movember.com, the Movember app or via Matthew Wade’s donation page here.

2021 Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

Oct 23: Australia beat South Africa by five wickets

Oct 28: Australia beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets

Oct 30: England beat Australia by eight wickets

Nov 4 v Bangladesh in Dubai (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

Nov 6 v West Indies in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

All matches live and exclusive on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports.

Click here for the full 2021 ICC T20 World Cup schedule

Click here for the full squads for all 16 teams

Super 12 stage

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia