The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
We now come to the conclusion of our coverage of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup for the day. Australia now travel to Mumbai to take on Afghanistan and potentially seal a spot in the final four. They are likely to re-gain the services of Glenn Maxwell as well - gee, they did just about all right without the services of the maverick today! England have one more game to play in what has been a shoddy World Cup campaign for them - a clash against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens on the 11th of November might just spell the fate of the men in green in the tournament! We'll be back with a high-voltage clash tomorrow - it's going to be a battle between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens to lay claim on that top-spot. There has been rain around at Kolkata, but the ground has been under cover all this while - we hope to have an absolute cracker-jack of a contest! Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our coverage of the same. This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of my good friend Pradeep for the day. Good night, see you tomorrow!
What a day we've had in the context of the tournament! Pakistan's win over New Zealand had opened up new doors for each team barring Bangladesh, but Australia, having trounced their arch-rivals and knocked them out of the tournament in the process, have all but closed one of the two doors. This is the time we'll see different permutations and combinations for each team - really nice to see the tournament coming alive with 9 matches left in the league stage! Australia are really well-placed in the tournament though, having secured 10 points, they now have two more opponents - Afghanistan and Bangladesh - left to come. The 5-time World Champions are yet to perform at their best - as per Pat Cummins in the recently concluded post-match presentation - they sure are going to be a formidable outfit should they make the final four, you know!
Pat Cummins (Australia captain): It's been great. The boys have played brilliantly. Obviously, we were off to a tough start, we've found a way to win every game. We've improved every game, but I still feel we haven't had the perfect game, or closed out a game well enough. The good thing is, we've had a different match-winner every game, and everything seems to come together. Fielding is one thing we pride ourselves in, we knew we weren't at our best. Seen a marked improvement, everyone's diving, I'm all muddy, the boys want to be in the hot spot. It's a facet we've improved on. (On Adam Zampa) He's been bowling beautifully in the last few games, he put 30-odd and put a great effort in. He's a match-winner, lucky to have him around. To use him in the middle, you feel like there's a wicket coming. He was at his best tonight. We've got Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) and Mitchy (Mitchell Marsh), who are going to come in later in the tournament, we feel like we have a whole squad to choose from. Everyone wants to play, so we'll have a task picking an XI next game. The dew wasn't too bad, it can slide around in T20s a bit, but tonight wasn't too bad.
Jos Buttler (England captain): Disappointment, we're having the same chat every minute after every game. Improvements again today, more like the way to play but we still lose by 30 runs, plenty of ways to find those 30 runs needed. Certainly low point, definitely as a captain to be stood in this position, had high hopes but incredibly disappointing, hurts a lot. We certainly haven't done ourselves enough justice, coming into the tournament, we fancied ourselves to do well to go all the way, there's so much hard work but we let ourselves down and people back home. I thought we did well there to restrict to 287, could've done even better but a frustraing partnership from Zampa and Starc, would've loved to have wrapped up a bit early. With dew in the mix, we didn't do well but we were quite happy half way. Not really, I thought, it was the right shot to play, but the execution wasn't there, was trying to stay positive, try and throw it back at the opposition, couldn't execute throughout, my form was a concern and I couldn't play to my fullest potential and that has hurt as a team. The only way to get back into form, or start winning games is to front up and go again, just need to keep putting in the hard work.
Adam Zampa is the Player of the Match! Here's what he has to say: Just summing up the condition was really important, I thought we put up a good competitive total on the board, but it was always going to be tough to defend, ground got really wet, for me length control and attacking the stumps was important, length control was really satisfying. Really just to stay positive and try to bat out the 50 overs, not to throw it away and try to rotate the strikes. One of those days to take a catch like that, have a day like that. Hopefully, the best is still to come.
Match summary:
Australia win by 33 runs
Marnus Labuschagne 71(83) | Adam Zampa 3/21 (10) Ben Stokes 64(90) | Chris Woakes 4/54 (9.3)
What an absolute humdinger of a game we've had between two international heavyweights today! A contest worth the hype, for sure! The game kept tilting towards both teams rather frequently, and with 9 matches to play, the tournament has certainly come to life! Two teams - India and South Africa - have sealed a spot in the final four, and now, the competition for the two remaining spots will only keep heating up!
Australia have taken a major step in sealing one of those spots - they break away from the line of teams with 8 points. The wicket was a touch double-paced - it seemed to be on the slower side at times, but the dew, and subsequently, the wet Kookaburra, had the batters rushing for their shots on most occasions, particularly against Pat Cummins. The Australian skipper played an instrumental role towards the end as Chris Woakes looked to take the game away from the Aussies, taking the responsibility of bowling a really crucial over!
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were the ones who kept the lid on the England top-order early on. It was Starc who drew first blood - strangling Bairstow down the leg side with a rather wayward delivery first ball! Joe Root had a really troubled time in the middle - offering several chances in a sketchy 17-ball innings of 13 before nicking behind. Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes had to put in the hard yards and stitch a rescue-partnership, which they did.
While neither of the duo were successful in piercing the gap more often, mainly thanks to some tight stuff on the field by the Aussies, Malan seemed to be the more in-form batter of the two. The left-handed opener took the odd risk, kept the score ticking along as Stokes struggled at the other end, and was the first to get to a half-century. However, a rather rash stroke off Cummins brought about the end to Malan's innings, and from then on, the onus, yet again, was on Stokes to carry the innings forward.
Stokes found some good company in Moeen Ali as the runs began to flow along. Slowly, the enigmatic England superstar began finding his timing - he struck a few lusty blows across the line, but just as England were making it back in the game, Stokes ended up sweeping one off Zampa down the throat of Stoinis at short fine, and England were back in soup all over again.
Zampa turned out to be the pick of the bowlers with a spell of 3 for 21 in his 10 overs. England just didn't seem to break even as wickets kept tumbling - a 30-run partnership for the 8th wicket between David Willey and Chris Woakes kept Australia on their toes. Willey's wicket, though, helped Australia get their noses in front, and despite Woakes and Rashid's best efforts, England were bound to fall short from then on. The presentations are underway now...
England are officially out of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup! And it has been ensured by their biggest rivals - England fans won't hear the end of it, for sure! They tried their best, but the Australian bowlers were always going to come good! Contrasting fortunes for Australia - they claim the contest by 33 runs, and so, take a giant step towards the final four!
48.1 Josh Hazlewood to Adil Rashid, OUT! UP IN THE AIR AND TAKEN! It's all over! England crash out of the 2023 World Cup! Bangs in the short delivery, Rashid looks to pull but has top edged it straight up and Inglis settles under it to finish a simple catch. Australia get one step closer to qualify for the semi-finals!
Adil Rashid c Josh Inglis b Josh Hazlewood 20 (15b, 1x4, 1x6)
Video
;'/></svg>)
D Warner
;'/></svg>){kind=small}
Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
