Australia vs Zimbabwe T20 Cricket World Cup Predictions - Stoinis to pull the brakes on confident Zimbabwe

Simon Lewis

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Last updated: 3 hours ago

Simon Lewis 3 hours ago

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Marcus Stoinis top-scored with 45 off 29 balls in the win over Ireland.
Brian Bennett has scored 22*, 39, 56 *& 48* in his last five innings.
Can Australia boost their net run rate with another big World Cup win?

Marcus Stoinis top-scored against Ireland (Getty Images).

Australia vs Zimbabwe Predictions

Australia and Zimbabwe started their World Cup campaigns with resounding wins over Ireland and Oman respectively. Australia have been weakened by injury but Zimbabwe have a number of competitive players in their squad, so Australia might have to work hard for their win. The pitch at the Premadasa Stadium has been slow and spin-friendly so far in the tournament, which might nullify the Zimbabwe pace attack.

Australia vs Zimbabwe Predictions
Head-to-Head
Australia Form
Zimbabwe Form
Australia vs Zimbabwe Team News & Squads

Australia’s Marcus Stoinis has scored 55, 23 & 45 in his last five innings.
Australia’s Cameron Green has scored 36, 35, 22 & 21 in his last 4 innings.
Zimbabwe’s Brian Bennett scored 48 off 36 balls in the win over Oman.
Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor has scored 59*, 26 & 31* in his last 3 innings.
Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani has taken 96 wickets in T20Is for Zimbabwe

Head-to-Head

Australia and ZImbabwe have only played three T20Is against each other, with the Aussies holding a narrow (and unexpected) 2-1 lead. The last time they met was in a Tri Series in 2018.

Australia Form

Australia’s poor lead-up to the World Cup was cast aside with a thoroughly professional 67-run win over Ireland in their tournament opener.

Australia posted a competitive score of 182/6 against Ireland, with Josh Inglis (37 off 17), Cameron Green (21 off 11) and Matt Renshaw (37 off 33) all making good starts. Cameron Green has scored 17 or more in 10 of his last 12 innings without passing 45. Marcus Stoinis added much-needed firepower in the closing overs to lift his side towards 180. Stoinis fell for 45 off 29 balls.

Nathen Ellis was the destroyer-in-chief against Ireland, taking 4/12 (econ 3.13). Adam Zampa also picked up four wickets against Ireland (4/23, econ 5.75). Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have both taken 49 wickets in T20Is.

Zimbabwe Form

Zimbabwe opened their World Cup campaign with an 8-wicket win over Oman with 39 balls to spare.

Blessing Muzarabani knocked over three of Oman’s top four batters as they collapsed to 27/5. Muzarabani finished with figures of 3/16 (econ 4.00) to follow up his figures of 3/47, 3/48, 2/41 and 2/41 in his previous four bowling innings. Richard Ngarava (3/17, econ 4.25) and Brad Evans (3/18, econ 4.69) backed him up as they rolled Oman for 103 in the 20th over.

Brian Bennett (48* off36) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (21 off 11) reeled off 12 fours between them as they got the innings off to a flyer. Brendan Taylor chipped in with 31 before retiring injured as Zimbabwe hit their target for the loss of just two wickets in the 14th over.

Australia vs Zimbabwe Team News & Squads

Squad skipper Mitchell Marsh is not confirmed as fit to play due to a testicular injury. Steven Smith has been called-up as a replacement but has not been officially confirmed as being part of the squad. Batting dangerman Tim David is also battling injury (hamstring).

Stand-in skipper Travis Head told interviewers at the post-match chat that the 61-run stand for the fifth wicket between Matt Renshaw and Marcus Stoinis was crucial in Australia posting a competitive score. "Their partnership in the middle was really good and kept us going. Zampa was exceptional and Ellis was the leader of the attack, so it was great to see him stand up,” said Head.

Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza was delighted with his team’s performance in their opening victory over Oman. "I thought we bowled exceptionally well. We read the pitch correctly and executed our plans perfectly. This was about as clinical as we can be. You'd want to win by nine wickets or have the openers finish it off, but with the nerves of a first World Cup game, I'm very happy with this performance,” said Raza in his post-match TV interview.

Raza admitted that he would be carefully managing bowling star Blessing Muzarabani’s workload.

“Blessing is returning from a back injury. I wanted him to bowl three in the powerplay, which he did, but I also wanted to keep an over in reserve for the death just in case. I thought Benny and Wellington did a decent job in the middle. Every time I asked the boys to step up, they delivered, whether by taking a wicket or keeping things tight,” added Raza.

Australia (probable): Travis Head (c), Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Cooper Connolly, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matt Kuhnemann, Adam Zampa.

Zimbabwe (probable): Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Dion Mayers, Brendan Taylor, Sikandar Raza (c), Ryan Burl, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani.

Verdict

Australia v Zimbabwe

I am backing Australia to win. I am also backing Marcus Stoinis to top score for Australia.

Brian Bennett is a good bet to top score for Zimbabwe.

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