Darren Gough describes importance of England v Australia T20 World Cup clash

Darren Gough has described England‘s T20 World Cup clash with Australia on Saturday as “massive” ahead of this winter’s Ashes series.

Eoin Morgan’s side have won both of their group stage matches so far. They produced a dominant display to beat West Indies by six wickets on matchday one, having bowled them out for just 55. They then beat Bangladesh by eight wickets in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Next up is their most famous cricketing rival – Australia, who have also won both their group games.

Following the completion of this tournament, the two sides will prepare for this winter’s Ashes series Down Under, which begins in December.

And Gough, who represented England over 200 times in all formats between 1994 and 2006, says Saturday’s game could be “massive” not just in the context of the World Cup itself, but also when taking the Ashes into account.

He told the Daily Mirror: “England v Australia is such a big game for so many reasons. First and foremost it’s a World Cup, but moving forward to the Ashes series it could be massive.”

“Australia have got a good team. I think they’ve slightly gone away from the way you’d expect them to play over the last few years, it’s been quite confusing. They’ve tried so many different players whereas England have been quite consistent with selection, changing one or two here or there.”

“Australia have been so undecided going into this but it might work. When it comes to World Cups, how can you argue with their record? We’ll see how they go against England but on paper they’ve got a strong side.”

Morgan discusses T20 & Ashes differences

Speaking in a press conference on Friday, England captain Morgan expressed a slightly different view on how much importance any victory would have in terms of the Ashes.

He said (quotes via Cricinfo): “There was a time and place where 50-over cricket was closely aligned with Test match cricket and the way that it was played.”

“Particularly top of the order and how your quicks bowled, but I think white-ball cricket has moved so far away from red-ball cricket that there’s just day and night between a psychological blow in one format in comparison to the other.”

England v Australia commences on Saturday afternoon in Dubai at 3pm UK time.

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