England vs Australia Preview, World Cup 2019: England hope to prove a point against Australia

BIRMINGHAM: Before the second semifinal of the 2019 World Cup against England, Australian coach Justin Langer performed a unique ritual, something which he and his opening partner Matthew Hayden used to do before a game.WORLD CUP SCHEDULEThe former Australian opener asked his team to walk barefoot around Edgbaston on Monday. The whole idea, he said on the eve of the big-ticket clash against the arch-rivals, was to relax his players before they take on arch-rivals England. "It's about staying as relaxed as possible. It was just walking a lap of the Oval with our shoes off. We could've done it with our shoes on and nobody would've said anything," explained Langer. Perhaps it would help settle the nerves of his team, slightly rattled due to untimely injuries and a defeat to South Africa in their final group game, "We've got a group of players who have worked hard for the last six or seven months and have got to a World Cup semifinal. We've had some hiccups along the way but these guys have done a great job and everyone in this squad has played his role. That's where I get my confidence from," said Langer. While tickets may not be in high demand for this game, considering that a south Asian team isn't involved, this remains a blockbuster clash. Ahead of the Ashes, England and Australia get one final chance to establish who's the boss in One-Day cricket, as the traditional rivals clash in the semifinal of the 2019 World Cup at Edgbaston on Thursday. It's difficult to guess who's the favourite here - Australia won by 64 runs in the league stage on June 25 at Lord's, but in the past 11 games, England, the world's No 1 ODI side now, have come out the winners nine times. What tilts the balance slightly in the hosts' favour is that since the last week or so, Australia have been severely plagued by injuries. On the eve of their last league game against South Africa, they lost Shaun Marsh, who got hurt negotiating a bouncer from Pat Cummins. In a horror net session, Glenn Maxwell got hit by a bouncer too, and Steven Smith and Jason Behrendorff suffered finger injuries. Marsh was replaced by Peter Handscomb, but soon, injuries wreaked more havoc when Usman Khawaja was forced to miss the rest of the tournament after suffering a hamstring strain during the Aussies' loss to South Africa on Saturday at Old Trafford in Manchester. However, the defending champions still have enough firepower to put it past England and keep their campaign for a sixth World Cup title on track. England, severely criticized and almost written off after that defeat to the archrivals, beat India and New Zealand in do-or-die games to make the semifinals. The man leading their resurgence is Jonny Bairstow. England's biggest hope with the ball is one of the best things about this World Cup - Jofra Archer.