“We’re a different animal now.”
Liam Plunkett told the Australia cricket team that “England are a different sort of animal” as they prepare for their semi-final match against the defending cricket world champions. The Ashes rivals will meet in Birmingham on Thursday with Australia hoping for their sixth title while England are in search of their first title.
Australia are more experienced in the tournament; they have also won the past four world cup matches between them including a group match earlier in the tournament. However, Plunkett insists that this is a different England cricket team.
“They’ve been there and done it before but not against this bunch of players,” he said. “We’re a different sort of animal compared to our last teams. We’ve played a well for the past four years, we’re ranked number one and we feel we’re in a good place. We feel on our day we can beat anyone in the world.”
Plunkett is one of the senior players on the team. He made his international debut back in 2005, while his last world cup appearance was 12 years ago in the West Indies. Since then, he has witnessed how England’s one-day cricket has changed and gotten better.
“We had amazing players but I never thought we’d win a World Cup,” he said. “We’ve made it exciting again. I’ve played in teams where we didn’t expect to win. With this squad, the public expects us to win games and win series.”
At 34, he is unlikely to play in the next ICC World Cup in India in 2023. This means that these next few days could be the biggest days of his career. “I think so,” he agreed. “I don’t think I’ll play another World Cup so for me, personally, it’s the biggest.”
The second semi-final match featuring Australia and England is drawing near, with odds of +116 and -137, respectively. To find out more about cricket odds, visit Betwala's odds page.
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