England will have to win their final Tri-Series match against India in Perth on Friday to qualify for the final following the washout between Australia and India.
The Australia Day celebrations fell flat in Sydney as persistent drizzle more akin to a summer’s day at Edgbaston meant only 16 overs of play were possible. This result meant little to Australia given they had already booked their place in the final with wins in each of their first three games.
It handed a lifeline to India, who only need to beat England at the Waca to qualify. Peter Moores’ side have lost both their matches against Australia in this series by three-wicket margins but had been in pole position to reach the final after their bonus-point win against India in Brisbane last week.
Another defeat for MS Dhoni’s side at the Sydney Cricket Ground would have left them not only needing a bonus-point win of their own against England in Perth but also relying on the vagaries of net run-rate calculations. The equation is now simple as whoever wins Friday’s contest will face Australia in the final two days’ later.
Mitchell Johnson, again left out of this match by Darren Lehmann, Australia’s coach, is set to play on Sunday in what would be his first match in any format since his withdrawal before the final Test against India in Sydney at the turn of the year.
Lehmann, speaking before this match in Sydney, is confident any issues his star fast bowler had concerning a sore hamstring, plus the unspecified personal problems which ruled him out of the match against England in Hobart last Friday, are resolved.
It means that whoever prevails between England and India in the winner-takes-all contest in Perth is likely to face a fired-up Johnson on his home ground, widely regarded as the quickest pitch in world cricket.
