World Cup 2019: Australia qualify for semifinals with crushing win over England
Australia have defeated England by 64 runs in the 32nd match of the ICC World Cup 2019 played at Lord's, London on Tuesday. With this win, the Aussies have qualified for the semifinals.
England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to field first. The Australian openers David Warner and Aaron Finch showed great courage on a tough batting wicket, and at the end of 10 overs Australia were 44 for 0.
After the power play, Warner and Finch continued to play with positive intent; the Australian captain Finch reached his fifty off 61 balls while Warner completed his half-century off 52 balls. Moeen Ali got the breakthrough, dismissing Warner for 53, after the two openers had added 123 runs.
Usman Khawaja came to the crease and struggled to time the ball. On the other hand, Finch continued his attacking approach. Ben Stokes dismissed Khawaja for 23; Khawaja and Finch had added 50 runs for the 2nd wicket.
Finch reached his century off 115 balls and was soon dismissed by Jofra Archer. The England bowlers then came back strongly to pick wickets at regular intervals. Alex Carey provided a quickfire 38 off 27 balls to help Australia post 285 for 7 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 286, it was not a great start for the hosts as they lost the wicket of James Vince off the second ball of the innings. Mitchell Starc and Jason Behrendroff reduced England to 26 for 3 with their incisive bowling; at the end of 10 overs, the hosts were a sub-par 39 for 3.
After the power play, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes steadied the innings, before Behrendroff got the wicket of Bairstow to put England under further pressure. Stokes then combined with Jos Buttler to get the team closer to the target, by rotating the strike intelligently.
Just as things were looking good for England, Marcus Stoinis got the wicket of Buttler for 25. Buttler and Stokes had added 71 runs for the 5th wicket.
Stokes reached his fifty off 75 balls while Chris Woakes gave him good company. But again, when things had started looking manageable, Starc provided the breakthrough by dismissing Ben Stokes with a beauty of a yorker.
The rest of the England batting order failed to do much, and they were bowled out for 221 in 44.4 overs.
Brief scores: Australia 285 for 7 in 50 overs (Aaron Finch 100, David Warner 53, Chris Woakes 2/46) beat England 221 in 44.4 overs (Ben Stokes 89, Jonny Bairstow 27, Jason Behrendroff 5/44, Mitchell Starc 4/43) by 64 runs.
Also see – Australia vs England head to head stats
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