Australia v England, Champions Trophy: All you need to know

Match details

Who: Australia v England

What: Champions Trophy

When: 22 February 2025, 8:00pm AEDT first ball

Where: Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

How to watch: Amazon's Prime Video

Live scores: Match Centre

Officials: Joel Wilson and Chris Gaffaney (on field), Kumar Dharmasena (third), Ahsan Raza (fourth), Andrew Pycroft (referee)

Highlights, news and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app and the Unplayable Podcast. Listen and subscribe to the podcast below: 

The squads

Australia: Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Adam Zampa.

Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly

Five players from Australia's initial 15-man squad have withdrawn - Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Marsh and Marcus Stoinis - due to injury, personal reasons and retirement, meaning it's a vastly different group to the one that took out the 2023 ODI World Cup. However, the replacements have all had a taste of international success and now get the chance to make their own name at a big tournament. 

England: Jos Buttler (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood

Joe Root is back in the ODI side after 18 months out while the Champions Trophy will be Brendon McCullum's first major assignment in charge of the English white-ball side. Plenty of genuine pace options - Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Saqib Mahmood - but the bowling group has plenty of critics after a tough series against India. Rising star Jacob Bethell has been forced to withdraw with injury, replaced by big-hitter Tom Banton. 

Australia's fixtures

February 22: Australia v England, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

February 25: Australia v South Africa, Rawalpindi (8pm AEDT)

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

Broadcast info

As is now the case (and will be until the end of 2027), Amazon's Prime Video holds the rights to all ICC events. That means no free-to-air TV for this tournament - streaming it is your only option.  

Prime Video is included in an Amazon Prime membership, and for new customers to Amazon the good news is that their 30-day free trial will last the entirety for the tournament - from Australia's first match to the final. And you can sign up here for a Prime Video 30-day free trial.

But what is the Champions Trophy? 

It's been eight years since the last one so that's a very valid question!

Think of it as a mini-World Cup. Only eight sides, three pool matches each. It's short, sharp and over in about a fortnight. You'll notice regular sides like Sri Lanka and West Indies (both previous winners) have missed the cut for this tournament, as only the top eight ranked sides from the 2023 World Cup (including hosts Pakistan) qualified.  

It was introduced as the 'ICC KnockOut Trophy', designed to raise funds for the development of the game in non-Test playing nations. Originally scheduled every two years, that was spaced out to every four between 2009-2017 but it was placed firmly on the back-burner when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, and was replaced entirely for a period to hold more T20 World Cups. 

Australia have won the thing twice, back-to-back in 2006 and 2009. Part of the tournament's gimmick is that teams who win the trophy are awarded white blazers as part of their reward for taking out the title. 

In 2002 the final was washed out, so India and Sri Lanka fronted up again on the reserve day. Unfortunately, the back up was also rained off, so the teams shared the title. 

Previous editions:

1998 (in Bangladesh) - South Africa champions

 

2000 (in Kenya) - New Zealand

 

2002 (in Sri Lanka) - India and Sri Lanka

 

2004 (in England) - West Indies

 

2006 (in India) - Australia

 

2009 (in South Africa) - Australia

 

2013 (in England, Wales) - India 

 

2017 (in England, Wales) - Pakistan

Beyond the white jackets, the winning team will pocket a grand prize of A$3.5m while the runners up will take home a far-from-shabby A$1.77m. 

Local knowledge

Big scores were on the menu here during Australia's most recent tour to Pakistan, back in 2022. All three ODIs were in Lahore and Aussies Travis Head and Ben McDermott both hit centuries, while Pakistan pair Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq both hit two each. 

Traditionally (and especially in the past decade) this has been a batting paradise, with 14 scores of 290+ in the past 15 matches here. 

As is clear in the all-time stats, pace bowling has been a bigger weapon than spin bowling here, meaning there will be a massive task for Australia's inexperienced quicks to do. 

Possible line-ups

Australia: Travis Head, Matt Short, Steve Smith (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson 

There will be a minimum of five changes from Australia's XI at the most recent ICC tournament, the 2023 World Cup final, with Warner, Marsh, Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood not featuring at this event. Alex Carey's blistering form makes him hard to leave out, even if it is as a pure batter. Does he squeeze out Marnus Labuschagne or Aaron Hardie? 

Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa are locks to headline the spin attack, with the option of Travis Head and Matt Short to provide the chop out. For the quicks, the Aussies have some very able 'Big Three' replacements: Spencer Johnson to provide left-arm swing, Sean Abbott to hit a hard length and Nathan Ellis to be the versatile banker. 

England: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c, wk), Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood

England have confirmed their XI for the match with the surprise being Test wicketkeeper Jamie Smith named at No.3. He's going to take the gloves while captain Jos Buttler takes charge from the outfield. 

In the bowling department, they've gone with all-out pace in the form of match-winners Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who are both fit an primed to play. Brydon Carse has been a regular in the side of late and offers plenty with the bat as well. 

Head-to-head stats

Overall: Australia 91 wins, England 65 wins, two ties, three no results

In Asia: Australia four wins, England two wins

In ICC tournaments: Australia nine wins, England six wins

Past 10 years: Australia 15 wins, England 16 wins

Most runs (overall): Eoin Morgan 1952, Ricky Ponting 1598, Michael Clarke 1430, Graham Gooch 1395, Aaron Finch 1354

Most runs (in ICC tournaments): Aaron Finch 303, Ben Stokes 255, Ian Bell 247, Ricky Ponting 245, Steve Smith 228

Most wickets (overall): Brett Lee 65, Glenn McGrath 53, Adil Rashid 50, Mitch Starc 43, Shane Watson 39

Most wickets (in ICC tournaments): Mitch Starc 11, Chris Woakes 10, Adil Rashid 9, Mark Wood 8, Andy Bichel 7

Form guide

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result   

Australia: L L L L W W L L W W

Australia's 0-2 loss to Sri Lanka means they've now lost four ODIs on the bounce heading into the Champions Trophy. Although they haven't played a heap of ODI cricket in recent times, they fell 1-2 to Pakistan at home just prior to the Test summer. However, an impressive 3-2 win over England in the September showed lots of strong signs for many of the players in their squad. 

The Aussies will take heart in the fact they had a similarly poor run of results heading into the 2023 World Cup, which they eventually won.  

England: L L L L W L L W W L

The form guide doesn't make for great reading for England in the format, having lost all four of their ODI series since the 2023 World Cup. Since 2024, they've lost to Australia 2-3 at home, to West Indies 1-2 away and most recently to India 0-3 away. 

Rapid stats

• Australia have won eight of their last 10 men’s ODIs against England including a 49-run win in their most recent encounter
• England have won three of their five encounters against Australia at the ICC Champions Trophy including their last two in a row; though, they’ve never won against Australia outside England at the tournament (L2)
• Australia have lost their last four straight men’s ODIs after losing only two of their previous 18 games in the format while England have also lost their last four consecutive games
• Australia haven’t won a match at the ICC Champions Trophy since defeating New Zealand by six wickets in the final of the 2009 tournament, picking up three defeats from their completed matches at the tournament since then (3 no results)
• England defeated Pakistan by six runs in their last men’s ODI in Pakistan (December 2005) but have won only three of their last 11 games in the country; they’ll be looking to win back-to-back games in Pakistan for the first time since February 1996
• Glenn Maxwell (3,951) is 49 runs away from reaching 4,000 ODI runs scored for Australia; however, he has scored more than two runs in only three of his last nine innings in the format and has been dismissed for single figures in three of his last five innings against England (1, 108, 7, 30, 2)
• Joe Root has a batting average of 53.9 from his nine innings at the ICC Champions Trophy, the highest of any England player to feature in more than five innings at the tournament and the sixth-highest of any player; he has scored 40+ runs in three of his last four innings at the tournament (133*, 64, 15, 46)
• No player has dismissed Steve Smith (Australia) in ODIs more times than England’s Adil Rashid (7 times); Smith has averaged 37.6 in the format against England, only against Sri Lanka (32.8) does he average less (minimum six innings)

2025 ICC Men's Champions Trophy

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Australia's Group B fixtures

February 22: Australia v England, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

February 25: Australia v South Africa, Rawalpindi (8pm AEDT)

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 4: Semi-final 1, Dubai (8pm AEDT)

March 5: Semi-final 2, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly