The rivalry between England and Australia is the oldest in cricket. Players from both teams are always pumped up for matches against each other. Most of the media and public attention is focused on the Test rivalry, where teams compete to win the precious Ashes Urn, but the ODI rivalry between the two teams is not to be forgotten. The first ever ODI match was played between Australia and England at the MCG on 5th January 1971.
Australia’s ODI team has been immensely successful. They have won five World Cups, three more than any other nation. They have a positive win / loss record against every team they have played against. England, on the other hand, has not been too successful in the ODI arena. They have never won the World Cup and do not have a positive win / loss record against Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies.
The highlight of the Australia-England ODI rivalry was the 1987 Cricket World Cup Final held at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. It was the closest-ever World Cup final and Australia scraped through with a seven run win over England. The two heavyweights last met almost 2 years back on September 13, 2015, where Australia got better of England and won the contest by 8 wickets.
England and Australia have competed in 136 ODIs till date with Australia winning 80 and England winning 50. Only South Africa and West Indies have better records than that against Australia. This shows that England has historically performed better than most other teams against the Australians.
In the 70 matches that have been played in England till now, it is a close affair. Australia leads England by a slender margin of 6 matches, as the current record stands at 36-30. In the recent past, England have started performing well in ODIs at home. They have won series against Australia in 2010, 2012 and also defeated Australia in the 2013 Champions Trophy. They ended up winning the series against South Africa just before the start of Champions trophy 2017.
But we have seen England underperforming in crunch situations. For example, it is noted that England made it to the finals of Champions Trophy but lost an extremely tight contest against India. When it comes to Champions trophy, the two teams have met only 3 times and in this as well, Australia got better of England twice. Only once have England managed to clinch a victory, which was in 2013.
The oldest rivalry in the game of cricket will have another page added to its volume as the two titans are all set to play each other one more time on the 10th of June. England will take the field with the mindset of improving their home record against the mighty Aussies, whereas the Australians would be keen to continue their dominance against England.
Many controversies have taken place involving the two teams, most recently the one featuring Ben Stokes. In the game at Lord’s, Ben Stokes was given out for ‘obstructing the field’ when he threw up a hand to defend himself from Mitchell Starc’s shy at the stumps. Australia were always in the driver’s seat and won that game quite comfortably.
Post match, Eoin Morgan cleared the air after the discussion with his counterpart Smith when he said, "I gave my thoughts, and he gave me his. It's nothing big. I don't think it was the winning and losing of the game. So it's not a big deal, just his view against mine." Keeping the history of these players in mind, one can expect another controversy at Edgbaston.
After comfortably defeating Bangladesh in the opening game of the Champions Trophy and completing a comprehensive win against New Zealand, the England team will be full of confidence and eager to outplay Australia as well. But Australia has a new captain and is looking to build on their success and win the Champions trophy for the third time.
But with 2 matches gone down to rain, the Aussies are in a ‘do or die’ situation. The match will be as interesting as the Indo-Pak rivalry for sure as there is everything to play for!
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