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.
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.
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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Chris Love
Roar Guru
I disagree. I think Bangladesh have really advanced as an ODI side. Shakib is an absolute star that would walk into the Aussie side and many others. Their fielding effort is top notch if not let down sometimes. Pakistan can beat anyone on their day but are very hit and miss. I’m backing Bangladesh to beat Pakistan if the chance of a place in the finals is still alive by then.
Magic
Guest
I don't know if anyone watched the interview of all the captain before the world cup start but in that interview when every captain had to answer the question about who they want in their team from others team than Morgan said "I want RT ponting" in our coaching team and I am watching that difference today between AUS and eng, and I want CA to make RT ponting permanent batting and assistant coach of AUS so huggggge for AUS world cup hope
Peter Warrington
Guest
Unless you are Alan Hurst
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
England may have shot themselves in the foot on the way to getting to No 1 and setting all those batting records. They haven't handled pitches with a bit in them very well it seems. We saw a preview of this in that series they played against the Windies recently but I don't think too many saw its significance at the time. .. Just goes to show there's a downside to just about everything. Even scoring 350+ regularly.
Peter warrington
Guest
play at 6 and captain Carey at 7. it is what i says it is.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Haha nonsense "Geralt", I said Kane Richardson is not international standard, I've long praised Behrendorff. Swing and a miss "Geralt".
Geralt
Guest
Ronan I remember you recently saying Berendorff wasnt international standard, how quickly you change your opinion after one performance.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
He's an enormous cricketer isn't he. The way he used his feet against the quicks was gutsy and skilful. He did seem to be feeling a twinge in his leg though. Had the physio out a few times I think. 6 might have been all he could get through.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Yeah. He was good. Credit where it's due.
sandpaper
Roar Rookie
india new zeland semifinal
Neel
Roar Guru
Hahahahaha. That’s funny.
Neel
Roar Guru
Scott, I don’t want to get too ahead, but Australia now, look like favourites with India. I don’t think Australia has ever lost a World Cup semi-final and they have won 5 out of the 7 finals they have played at World Cups. This performance against England, especially with the ball, has shown that they can win the tournament. Next game they probably should have Smith at 3, as he averages over 50 at 3 and maybe bring in Shaun Marsh at 4. Otherwise the squad is fine.
TheCunningLinguistic
Roar Rookie
We definitely need to give Stoinis credit for his bowling last night. While his batting has been, and continues to be, poop, his change-ups were superb, and he was very hard to score off. I’m one of many who were hoping his injury would pave the way for Mitch Marsh to come in (who is a far better batsman than Stoinis). However, I don’t think MM would’ve contained the English the way Stoinis did last night, even though he is a decent bowler in his own right. So, I’m happy to reserve judgement on Stoinis for now, but I genuinely hope his batting can click.
Paul
Roar Guru
let's see him do it a couple more times, eh? Hopefully he will and you'll have more chances to get carried away, Graham.
Paul
Roar Guru
the next few games will show if you're right, Ronan. I certainly hope so.
Graham
Guest
opening with house starc and the king of the dorf!
Rubbish Surf 69
Roar Rookie
Absolutely happy to give our batters credit. Especially our openers, they've been tremendous all tournament and I think their game plan of getting the starts without going crazy, while leaving the ability to go hard at the end is great. I'm just so surprised the English didn't pitch up more. Wasn't it like their first 50 balls only 3 would have hit the stumps? Most bowlers seem happy to be driven down the ground early on when the ball is moving, so I can't see why they wouldn't have tried it more. Defo need to give Warner and Finch credit though, hope we get the same resiliance in the Ashes where no doubt their bowlers will execute a better plan.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Good point. Plus Finch and Warner rode their luck with a resolute attitude. When they copped a bad ball they remained unflustered.
GaiusBaltar68
Roar Rookie
It bothers me that, if the pitch is a road, there is a bit of sameness with Starc and the Dorff. Granted Starc can do it anywhere, but wouldn't want him to have an off day in a knock-out match. Lyon and Stoinis did the job. Six decent bowling options including Maxi, some comfort there. The batting doesn't look far away. There are some big scores in that line-up.
Brian
Guest
I just don't buy that Australia can be a whole lot better batting first. I agree it suits and Australia's fielding has been exceptional but Australia would have won chasing 225 as well. Nearly all batsman struggled when coming in. Warner and Finch had some luck, and even then Australia were 1/173 and in the last 18 overs could only manage a run a ball to get 285. For England Stokes took 12 balls to score and everyone else failed. In modern ODI terms that is a tough pitch.