England's home advantage can work against them says Darren Lehmann

Darren Lehmann has won three World Cups for his country out one of which came with the 47-year-old coaching the team. Since the success of 2015 World Cup, Lehmann has been in charge of the Australian team and has done extremely well. His side gave a tough fight to India in their own backyard almost winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy recently.

The Champions Trophy is a kind of a knockout tournament. You cannot afford to lose more than one game. The competition is even tougher as the best 8 teams play each other in Groups before the knockouts. However, the Australian coach thinks that his team is the master of knockout tournaments.

Australia masters of knockouts

Boof thinks that his team is one of the best when it comes to playing a knockout tournament. They can handle pressure and are ruthless when they play cricket. The fact that they are the world champions will also help them.

He said, “We’re lucky enough that we play pretty good knockout tournaments, with the World Cup we’ve played quite well in the past. For us, it’s about taking those experiences into this type of tournament.

“I’m pretty confident the way we set up in terms of knockout stages but it’s pressurized from ball one. That’s the great challenge for a young group, to try and play the brand of cricket that’s going to get you through knockout tournaments,” Lehmann added.

England’s home advantage

England’s biggest advantage is their home advantage. The conditions are familiar and the home support is tremendous. However, the Australian coach was quick to mention that they have not done well in the past when the tournament was held in their backyard.

“It’s an advantage but they haven’t won it at home either. The pressure is on when you play at home, like us trying to win a World Cup at home (in 2015),” Boof said.

He also said that the World Cup is tougher but in Champions Trophy 8 best teams play and anyone can win it. “It’s a huge tournament. The World Cup is obviously a bit tougher than the Champions Trophy but it’s the best eight sides going at it.”

Stressing on the fact that any team can win the tournament he said that England might be the favourites but at the end of the day, it is 8 best teams so the Trophy can be won by any of those 8 teams. He said, “You need to play well and it’s straight knockout basically. You can probably lose one but you have to win most of your games.”

“The great thing about this one is it’s the top eight sides playing and anyone can win.That’s the challenge for the groups and (while) England are obviously one of the favourites, any one of those eight (teams) can win it,” Lehmann added.