ICC World Cup 2019: Aussies keep Pak WC hope alive

LONDON: Australia defeated England by 64 runs in their ICC World Cup 2019 group stage match at Lord’s on Tuesday, and became the first side to qualify for the semi-finals.

Winning the toss and choosing to bowl first, England were unlucky to not see Aaron Finch back in the pavilion early, after surviving some close calls in the face of good bowling by Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer.

He was dropped on 15 by James Vince, and survived an LBW review off Woakes’ bowling on 18. Warner looked in ominousform, and a typical pull off the bowling of Jofra Archer encapsulated the good form he was in. Finch and Warner reached a steady score of 75 after the first 15 overs, but Warner was caught by Joe Root off the bowling of Moeen Ali with the score on 123, contributing 53 off 61 balls to the total.

Finch was then joined in the middle by Usman Khawaja, who played an able ally to him for their partnership of 50 runs, during which Finch punished England for the reprieves he had received earlier. But Khawaja, who was looking good for a big score was bowled by an in-swinging delivery from Ben Stokes for 23 off 29 balls.

The Australian captain continued the good work at the other end, and reached his century in 115 balls, receiving a rousing applause from the crowd gathered at Lord’s (which had, incidentally, booed David Warner and Steve Smith earlier in the day), for his knock which included eleven fours and two sixes.

However, in a lapse of concentration, Finch was out on the very next ball when he held out to Woakes in the deep off the bowling of Jofra Archer, much to his disappointment. Almost on cue, Australia lost their way from this point on. Glenn Maxwell was dismissed with the score on 213, and after a brief stay, Stoinis was back in the pavilion, run-out after being stranded with Steve Smith at the non-striker’s end attempting to take a double that was simply not on.

Joined now by Alex Carey, Smith did his best to not let the innings stagnate and keep the scoreboard ticking. He was successful, but only to an extent as Chris Woakes bowled an inspired spell full of pace and nip to keep Smith at bay.

Soon enough, Smith was dismissed after making 38 off 34 balls, this time Jofra Archer bowling from the other end and Chris Woakes making no mistake in the deep. Even as Pat Cummins was dismissed after nine more runs were added to the scoreboard, Alex Carey did his best to get Australia to as respectable a total as possible, and carried his bat through to the end of the innings, with Australia finishing on 285/7.

In reply, England could not have gotten off to a worse start. James Vince was cleaned up by Jason Behrendorff on just the second ball of the innings, and Joe Root was out LBW in the fourth over to a peach of a delivery by Mitchell Starc.

The hosts slumped to 26 for 3 when Eoin Morgan fell to a trap set in the field for exactly the shot he played – a hook off the bowling of Mitchell Starc, with Pat Cummins making no mistake in the field.

Jonny Bairstow, together with Ben Stokes tried giving some stability to the English innings, but runs were hard to come by with the likes of Starc and Cummins giving them no room to operate with at all.

It wasn’t long before opener Bairstow was back in the pavilion as well, with the score at 53 and the 14th over running, caught by Behrendorff off the bowling of Pat Cummins.

A comeback looked highly unlikely at this stage, but Ben Stokes, aided by Jos Buttler led a fightback that gave England big hope. Stokes played his usual brand of cricket, with aggressive running between the wickets to keep the strike rotating, ensuring that the pressure was never off the Australian bowlers.

Lyon and Cummins were Stokes’ primary targets, not hesitating to drive and pull the ball whenever he saw the opportunity, consistently scoring at a run-rate of above 120. Stokes reached his fifty in no time, but the job wasn’t done. Even as Stokes was dismissed with the score on 177, Buttler carried on.

It was only when Mitchell Starc was brought back into the attack to dismiss Stokes that the English innings took another turn. Stokes was dismissed to an almost unplayable Yorker from Starc, much to his disappointment, and the scales tipped in Australia’s favour again.

England were never quite in the match after Stokes got out, and a procession of wickets followed. Moeen Ali’s wretched form continued as he edged one to Alex Carey off Behrnedorff’s bowling. The rest of the innings was punctuated with a few lusty blows from Adil Rashid, but wickets continued to fall around him.

Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer departed within the space of nine runs from 202/8 to 211/9, and Rashid was the last to be dismissed after making 25 runs, with the score at 221.

Jason Behrendorff was the pick of the bowlers, and finished with figures of 10-0-44-5. With the win, Australia became the first side to qualify for the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup 2019.