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England crumble as Australia secure World Cup semi-final spot

25th June, 2019
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Aaron Finch (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
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25th June, 2019
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England’s Cricket World Cup hopes have taken another blow in a 64-run loss to Austalia, who have become the first team to secure a semi-final spot.

It was an Aaron Finch century and Jason Behrendorff five-for which stole the show for Australia at the home of cricket, in what will go down as a confidence-boosting win.

Australia seems to be peaking at the right time, and while all the questions still weren’t answered, it was Finch and David Warner who were immense against the new ball on a seaming green top, which certainly made life tricky.

While they lived dangerously after being sent in to bat first, edging balls and surving half chances, England generally bowled too short and the runs really picked up after the opening powerplay.

Warner though, found a way to get himself out as he chipped a ball to point from Moeen Ali, which had Australia 1 for 123 in the 23rd, but with the pitch and conditions, that was well ahead of expectations.

England continued to bowl poorly, but Usman Khawaja struggled to get going and Finch slowed on approach to his hundred. Khawaja was eventually out for 23, and Finch 100 flat, before the Aussies collapsed, losing 7 for 86 in 14.5 overs from the fall of Khawaja to the loss of Pat Cummins.

In between, Steve Smith had held things together with a well-made 38 from 34 balls, while Glenn Maxwell was his usual self, tonking everything before getting out for 12 off 8.

Alex Carey held the ship together down the order, ending up with 38 off 27 not out against some pretty good English death bowling, although the decision to bowl Ben Stokes only six overs was a baffling one.

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In reply, England got off to the worst possible start as Behrendorff and Starc proved exactly what could happen on the pitch when the ball was full and allowed to swing under the humid and overcast conditions.

Behrendorff had James Vince second ball, and Starc had Joe Root trapped in front just a handful of overs later for eight.

Root was supposed to the main man who everyone could bat with, however, with Root gone, the chase unravelled pretty quickly.

Eoin Morgan never looked comfortable, and more or less like he was rattled by the situation before he got out, while a dumb shot from Jonny Bairstow also had him back in the dressing rooms at 4 for 53, just as they had started to rebuild.

Stokes continued to bat on, but when England lost Jos Buttler, frustratingly caught on the fence, it was always going to be an uphill battle.

Finch rotated his bowlers expertly, helped by the form of Nathan Lyon, and the excellent work of all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.

However, while Stokes was there, the game felt alive, but that would soon change when Starc bowled a contender for ball of the tournament, sending a yorker straight through the big all rounder to ultimately kill their charge at the end of the 37th over.

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The loss leaves England in all sorts of danger at the bottom of the top four. Their final two games of the tournament will see them take on India and New Zealand, with neither anything close to a guaranteed win.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are snapping at their heels, and if results happen how many expect them to, there is every chance England could now miss out on the semi-finals in their own backyard.

On the other side of the coin, Australia are into the semi-finals and can’t be mathematically mowed down anymore, which means all the pressure in their final two games against New Zealand and South Africa has been released.

Match summary

Australia: 7/285 (50) (Aaron Finch 100, David Warner 53, Alex Carey 38*, Steve Smith 38, Chris Woakes 2/46), defeat England: 10/221 (47) (Ben Stokes 89, Jason Behrendorff 5/44, Mitchell Starc 4/43) by 64 runs.

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