Consistent Aussie batting will place wobbling England under the microscope

England came into the ICC World Cup as the most feared batting line-up in ODI cricket and, while their potential for fireworks has been evident, a certain degree of consistency has been lacking.

The same cannot be said for Australia’s willow-wielding unit, who have been reliable since the off in this tournament and registered their biggest tally so far against Bangladesh last time out.

England’s loss to Sri Lanka at Headingley means failure to justify 8/11 England vs Australia match betting favouritism at Lord’s would see their prospects of making the semi-finals placed in jeopardy.

England have not defeated Australia, India or New Zealand in a World Cup match since 1992.#ENGvAUS#CWC19#WorldCup#WorldCup2019https://t.co/7CDafAym33

— CricketNDTV (@CricketNDTV) June 24, 2019

The Aussies are the doggies in the same market at odds of 11/10 despite the 10 points they already have on the board, meaning they’ve already got one spiked boot in the last four.

With similar levels of front-line threat with ball and bat, there’s little in this contest and Aaron Finch’s side’s consistent upward curve with the willow could see them come out on top if England’s Jason-Roy-less top order fails to find discipline to match their firepower.

India stymying an outlier in Australia’s upward World Cup batting curve

Australia’s most high-profile match of the World Cup to date saw them fall short of India’s 352/5 in a masterful display of bowling and field-placing from the opposition attack.

However, they still claimed easily the best score any side has mustered against Virat Kohli’s men so far.

After a narrow win having set a total of 288 in their first serious test against the West Indies, they hit 316 against the Indians. 307 against Pakistan, 334 versus Sri Lanka and a hefty 381 last time out when Bangladesh were the opposition.

https://twitter.com/TalksSportz/status/1141720018884972545

The latter is just five runs less than England’s feted batsmen plundered against the Tigers, yet there will be no Roy (man of the match with 153 on that occasion) in action at HQ.

Eoin Morgan’s side were still able to set the rockets, bangers and roman candles off against whipping boys Afghanistan without the big-hitting Surrey opener, but James Vince has yet to prove a same-calibre replacement.

Aussies more than keeping pace with England in top-performing individual terms

At the time of writing the Aussies have one bowler in the top five wicket takers at the World Cup to England’s two, while Finch’s men have two batsmen among the top five run scorers to the hosts’ one.

Mitchell Starc is the Australians’ most useful outlet with the ball, ranking joint-top with 15 dismissals alongside England’s Jofra Archer and Mohammed Amir of Pakistan. Starc is 9/4 in the top Australia wicket taker betting odds and looks very fair at the price.

Mitchell Starc has now taken the 2nd most World Cup wickets for Australia; behind only Glenn McGrath

Starc has now taken 36 wickets from just 14 World Cup matches#CmonAussie #CWC19 #AUSvBAN 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/PaqhCW48o3

— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) June 20, 2019

Meanwhile, both David Warner and Finch are among the leading quintet with the blade, with Joe Root the only England swinger with the consistency to join them in the elite echelon.

The hosts’ Test side skipper is 11/4 in the top England runscorer betting and will need to play another pivotal role in holding the side together against an opposition line-up that has the overall consistency to place their temperament under major scrutiny.