LONDON:
Ben Stokes' bat lay on the pitch while he kicked the air in frustration.
Mitchell Starc had produced the perfect yorker to send him packing for a fighting 89 (115b, 8x4, 2x6) thereby killing all hopes of England pulling off a sensation win at the Lord's on Tuesday.
SCORECARD | WORLD CUP SCHEDULE | POINTS TABLEComing into this game, England had beaten Australia 10 times in the last 11 ODIs between the traditional rivals, including a 5-0 annihilation of the defending champions last year. However, when it really mattered the most Australia had the last laugh in a key World Cup game.
Powered by their captain
Aaron Finch's second hundred (100, 116b, 11x4, 2x6) of this World Cup, and a superb show with the ball by their left-arm pacers
Jason Behrendorff, who justified his recall in place of Nathan Coulter-Nile by taking his maiden five-wicket haul in the ODIs, and Starc (4-43), the defending champions outplayed England by 64 runs to become the first team to make the semifinals with their sixth win in seven games.
Though Stokes slammed his third half-century of this World Cup, Behrendorff and Starc dismantled England, who folded up for 221 in 44.1 overs. The hosts' World Cup campaign, which looked pretty much on track till only a few days back, now looks in serious danger. After defeats to Sri Lanka at Headingley and now Australia at Lord's, England now need to win at least one, ideally both their remaining games, against India and New Zealand, to have any chance of making it to the semifinals.
On Tuesday, even though they won a good toss and bowled first in helpful conditions, England allowed the Australian openers to get off to yet another good start. However, the Aussies failed to capitalize on yet another superb start by Finch and David Warner (53, 61b, 6x4). From 173 for one in the 33rd over, the defending champions lost their last six wickets for 112 runs in 116 balls to finish at 285 for seven.
Chasing 286, England were kept in the game by Stokes, who continued to have a brilliant World Cup, stroking his third half-century (51 not out, 77b, 5x4) of the tournament. Along with
Jos Buttler (25), the allrounder seemed to have resurrected the innings after England had collapsed to 53 for four, but the wicketkeeper-batsman was well caught by Usman Khawaja by deep square leg off Marcus Stoinis.
Australia booked their semi-final birth with triumph over the hosts
Earlier, Behrendorff provided the fired-up Aussies with the perfect start when he castled opener James Vince with a superb inswinging yorker for a duck. Starc then got the big fish, trapping the in-form
Joe Root plumb lbw, before Morgan top-edged his bouncer to fine leg, where
Pat Cummins made no mistake. Behrendorff struck a second time as
Jonny Bairstow pulled a short ball to deep square leg, where Cummins took his second catch.
Australia played experienced offspinner Nathan Lyon for the first time in this World Cup, dropping young leggie Adam Zampa. On a wicket where a Moeen Ali delivery almost stopped on Warner, forcing him to spoon the ball to backward point, Lyon looked dangerous, making the ball turn and jump off a rough spot on the wicket.
Earlier, England's high-quality pace battery of Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood bowled well in patches, and were unlucky on several occasions as they beat the edge. However, the pacers were also guilty of bowling too short or wide at times, allowing Warner and Finch to free their arms. Warne also became the first batsman to score 500 runs in this World Cup.
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