The hosts England ran over a mighty Australian side albeit with some help from the rain at Birmingham on Saturday thus knocking them out of the tournament. In doing so, both England and Bangladesh qualified for the semi-finals from the group. England won all three of their matches in the group stage while Bangladesh won one, lost one and had no result in another.
Australia, on the other hand, could not manage a single with rain playing a spoilsport time and again in their campaign.
Winning the toss, England skipper Eoin Morgan decided to field first but failed to make any early inroad as the Aussies started off well – scoring 136/1 in around 23 overs. However, things started going wrong as soon as Steven Smith (56) and Aaron Finch (68) departed. Australia could only manage 277/9 in their 50 overs that too because of an unbeaten 71 from Travis Head.
Australia started their bowling with a bang – reducing England to 35/3 inside six overs. However, once Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes then took command as the Three Lions didn’t look back again. Morgan was unfortunately run out for 87 (81). But, Stokes went on to score a century and remained unbeaten on 102 along with Jos Buttler (29*) before rain interrupted play and England were later declared the winners by 40 runs via the D/L method.
#1 Finch-Smith partnership raised hopes for a high score
Australia’s opening stand lasted 7.2 overs for 40 runs as Mark Wood claimed the wicket of David Warner with an absolute cracker of a delivery. However, skipper Steven Smith along with opener Aaron Finch ensured that they don’t lose any more wickets as they stitched together a cautious 96 run partnership for the second wicket.
Finch was the aggressor in the partnership while Smith played second fiddle. It was finally good for Finch to find some form after two consecutive poor outings with the bat in the previous two matches. He hammered his way to a knock of 68 runs off just 64 deliveries which consisted of 8 fours. Steven Smith also nudged his way to a half-century.
The partnership finally came to an end when Finch attempted a big shot off Ben Stokes’ bowling and ended up miscuing it only to be caught at cover by Eoin Morgan. Australia were thus reduced to 136/2 in the 23rd over. Smith also departed soon after four overs when he chipped one off Mark Wood’s bowling straight to Liam Plunkett at mid-off.
#2 Mark Wood and Adil Rashid’s spells lead the English fight back
Mark Wood and Adil Rashid were exceptional for England with their bowling on Saturday as each of them picked up a 4-for against the mighty Australians. Wood was brilliant as he exploited the overcast conditions perfectly extracting swing and seam off the surface. His victims included that of David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa.
The delivery with which he claimed Warner’s wicket was absolutely fantastic. The ball pitched on good length and extracted extra bounce along with swing to induce an edge of Warner’s willow and land straight into the gloves of Jos Buttler. He ended up with bowling figures of 10-1-33-4 and it turned out to be the best bowling performance by an English bowler in Champions Trophy history.
Rashid, on the other hand, showed his worth today after being kept out of the first game of the tournament. He bowled beautifully in the death overs and made the difference between what could have been a 300+ total and the original score of 277/9.
He picked up the wickets of Mathew Wade (2) and Mitchell Starc (0) in the 44th over of the innings and then again accounted for the wicket of Pat Cummins (4) in the 46th over. He had also claimed the wicket of Moises Henriques (17) earlier in the innings. He ended up with a terrific bowling spell of 10-1-41-4.
#3 Travis Head kept the Australian ship afloat with a brilliant fifty
Travis Head walked out to bat at a time when Australia had lost their third wicket in the form of Moises Henriques with the score at 171 in the 27th over. Steve Smith was struggling to score runs at one end and hence the onus was on Head to up the ante.
The southpaw maintained a steady flow of runs along with the skipper and then also with Glenn Maxwell. However, once Maxwell departed, the Aussies started collapsing. Wickets tumbled at one end as Head watched from the other.
The RCB man, however, kept going at the other end and started shielding the tailenders at the other end once the 9th wicket fell with the score at 254 in the 47th over.
He added a valuable 23 runs to the total along with Josh Hazlewood who contributed only a solitary run in the last three overs to take Australia’s total to 277/9. Head remained unbeaten on 71 off just 64 deliveries and his innings was star-studded with five fours and a couple of sixes.
#4 Starc and Hazlewood’s initial outburst
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood exploited the conditions conducive for seam bowling perfectly as they sent both the English openers back to the pavilion cheaply. Starc got the out of form Jason Roy dismissed LBW in the very first over whereas Hazlewood claimed the wicket of the in-form Alex Hales in the very next over.
England thus found themselves in deep trouble at 6/2 as early as in the second over. If that was not enough, Hazlewood also dismissed England’s star batsman Joe Root in the sixth over of the innings caught behind for 15. England were thus reduced to 35/3 and their chase looked a distant dream now with their top order depleted.
#5 Morgan-Stokes Partnership gets England back into the match
Australian fans might have been jumping in joy after watching their bowlers demolish the English top-order with ease. Finally, it seemed like they were going into the semi-finals. However, England skipper Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes had other ideas. They stitched together a partnership of 159 runs for the fourth wicket at a run-a-ball to steer England to the doors of victory.
Both the batsmen counter-attacked the Aussie bowlers who were on fire at that stage. It was the skipper Eoin Morgan who led from the front taking the attack to the Aussies first. His partner Ben Stokes joined in the act soon and once both batsmen found their feet there was hardly anyone stopping them.
The partnership ended when Morgan was run-out by Adam Zampa for a terrific knock of 87 (81) that included eight fours and five huge sixes. Although he got dismissed, the equation had become much easier for England as they required only 84 to win from 110 balls.
Ben Stokes continued his mastery with the bat even after Morgan departed. He, in fact, brought up his third ODI century when it was required the most. It was an innings star-studded with 13 fours and two sixes. He remained unbeaten on 102 (109) along with Jos Buttler who scored 29 (32) leading England’s score to 240/4 before rain stopped play. England were later declared the winners via the D/L method.
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