Darren Lehmann, the Australia coach believes the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) wicket will produce a high-scoring International Cricket Council World Cup semis clash against India on Thursday.
On Tuesday Lehmann wrote in a column on cricket.com.au that he thinks the Sydney wicket will be very identical to the one they used in the match against Sri Lanka more than a fortnight ago when almost 700 runs were scored, so he thinks this will be another high-scoring matter.
Australia won the 8th March pool match against Sri Lanka convincingly, setting a huge 376 runs for the loss of 9 wickets for their opponents to chase before bowling them out in a 64 run win.
Sri Lanka came back to the ground for the quarter-final against proteas a week ago and were routed by 9 wickets after their batting line up was collapsed.
The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) has traditionally offered something for spin bowlers, but pace bowler Josh Hazlewood said the pitch served up for Australia’s game against Sri Lanka had offered a wee bit variation either way.
Australia will expect for a green tinge on the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) wicket to give their pace bowler as much help as possible against India’s daunting batting line-up
Lehmann called on local peoples to come out and be in full voice to secure Australia’s players felt the support.
Expectedly the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is packed with gold as all the Australian grounds have been throughout their crusade, and they get a big lift by watching so many fans getting behind them.
He said that what he has seen at other matches in this ICC World Cup, he suspects there will be a very loud and proud Indian turn-out at Thursday’s match so he urges the local people to bring their flags, wave them hard and often and provide some really visible and vocal home town support.
He was quoted saying: “Now it’s a matter of who plays well on the day. India are really starting to gain some confidence on the back of some good performances since the tournament began, and that fact that we know them inside out, just as they do us, adds an extra element to what already looms as an enthralling contest.”
The winner of Thursday’s semi-final will battle co-hosts New Zealand in Sunday’s final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).