Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes the upcoming Men’s T20I series decider at Old Trafford on Sunday will be an extremely intense affair, following England’s three-wicket victory in the second T20I held in Cardiff making scoreline stand at 1-1.

“It’s more than ruthless now, it’s 1-1 and it’s Australia against England. I don’t care what game it is, you want to win the series. Thinking about the sides, Archer comes back into mine and (Reece) Topley is probably the one that has to go.”

“He’s been a staple in that side for such a long time but with Carse being impressive maybe Topley has to go. Australia definitely have to bring Hazlewood back in, they can’t get him back him quick enough, and there’s two full-strength games in game three. Let’s see who comes out on top,” said Ponting on Sky Sports Cricket.

Hazelwood was rested from the second T20I for Australia, which also saw Mitchell Marsh miss out due to illness.

Archer too was rested by England, with Brydon Carse taking 2-21 at Cardiff. With the series to be decided in Old Trafford, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara opined which players will be fit for Sunday’s game, especially with Australia short on options due to injuries to their pace-bowling unit.

“There’s a series to win and I think it’s really important that they play the game as is. They might have a few injury concerns and might want to rest a few players due to that but with the series on the line and a lot being talked about your best players representing your country.”

“I mean there’s the T20 Blast Final and you don’t have many of the England stars participating in such an important final, so if they are being held back to play, I would sincerely hope that the best team is put out. That’s what the players deserve, it’s what the game deserves, the crowd deserves.”

“You can have all your planning and resting and rotation but the quality of the side can’t be undermined. That’s the whole point of having depth in your squad and the way England and Australia go about selecting their side, they have enough depth to put out their best sides,” he concluded.

Earlier, Livingstone and Jacob Bethell shared 90 runs off 47 balls to lead England to a Twenty20 series-tying win over Australia at Sophia Gardens on Friday.

Set 194 to win, England slipped to 79-3 when Phil Salt walked into an apparent trap laid by fellow stand-in captain Travis Head, holing out to Matthew Short, but Livingstone and Bethell broke the back of the chase.

Bethell’s dismissal for 44 off 24 balls with the finish line in sight disrupted England but Livingstone carried them to the brink of victory with a superb 87 off 47, including five sixes and six fours.

He was bowled with the scores tied and Brydon Carse senselessly slogged in the air next ball to give part-timer Short, who had previously taken only two international wickets, a shock maiden professional five-wicket haul.

However, Adil Rashid steered to backward point for the single England needed for a three-wicket win with six balls to spare and to tie the series 1-1.

Livingstone, in his 50th T20, earlier took 2-16 from three overs while Carse, barely a fortnight on from his return to cricket after a three-month ban for breaching betting regulations, also impressed with a couple of wickets as he filled in for Jofra Archer, breaching 90 mph (145 kph).

Agencies



Brief Scores:

Australia 193/6, 20 overs (McGurk 50, Inglis 42; L Livingstone 2-16)

England 194/7, 19.0 overs (Livingstone 87, Bethell 44; Short 5-22)