England Cricket to begin T20I Series Friday

England begins their T20I series on Friday night against Australia at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton. The first of three T20 internationals between the Ashes enemies before the two sides round off the shortened summer of cricket in the UK with a one-day series.

Both sides will fancy their chances with strong short format squads and reputations, this series will now act as a build-up for the 2020 World Cup, which has been postponed owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

England comes into the series having drawn 1-1 with Pakistan in a tightly fought T20I three-match contest. Although the hosts will be strengthened by their returning Test match players who were previously unavailable due to being inside separate bio-secure bubbles.

Australia came out on top of their last T20I outing in February when they took on South Africa on tour. The Green and Gold came out on top of a three-match series 2-1 after bowling out their hosts for under 100 twice, left-arm spinner Ashton Agar the star as he picked up eight wickets, including a hat-trick.

The last time the two met Australia came out a comfortable second-best in the white ball contest during their last tour to England in 2018, losing all six matches across both the ODI and the T20I series.

England v Australia T20I Series Squads

England are boosted by the addition of Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, and Mark Wood. Tom Banton will be looking to continue his fine form from the Pakistan series as the young Somerset batsman bludgeoned his way through the bowling attack to get his side off to a flier.

The tourists boast a particularly youthful squad as they return to action following a lay-off. Steve Smith, David Warner, and Glen Maxwell are always worth a watch, whilst captain Aaron Finch can be a real danger at the top of the order. 24-year-old Riley Meredith has been earmarked as one for the future, it will be interesting to see the fast bowler in action.

The series will no doubt be a closely fought encounter filled with big hitting and quick bowling, most definitely worth a watch.

England Twenty20 Squad

Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Denly, Tom Banton, Moeen Ali. Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Billings. Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood.

Australia Twenty20 Squad

Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Daniel Sams, Glenn Maxwell. Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Philippe, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa. Andrew Tye, Ashton Agar, Kane Richardson, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon. Pat Cummins, Riley Meredith, Sean Abbott.

? 1st @Vitality_UK IT20

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⏰ 6.00pm (UK)
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? Predictions? pic.twitter.com/iWEuMueuUQ

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 4, 2020

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Read more on Cricket here:

• England Test Cricket: This Summer’s Winners and Losers
• Ireland Cricket: Five of their Best Victories
• Cricket: England Fightback To Win The Series
• The Return of Test Cricket