‘Confident’ Australia brace for blockbuster England semi-final

MANCHESTER: Australia captain Aaron Finch insisted he was “excited” by he prospect of a World Cup semi-final against England even though his reigning champions will go into Thursday’s knockout clash on the back of a 10-run loss to South Africa.

Had Australia defeated the Proteas in Manchester on Saturday they would have returned to Old Trafford on Tuesday for a last-four clash with New Zealand, who have lost their last three group games — including an 86-run defeat by Finch’s men.

But Saturday’s narrow 10-run loss means Australia will head to Birmingham to face an England side who have beaten fellow semi-finalists India and New Zealand in their last two games.

Australia overwhelmed England in their group stage meeting at Lord’s but, significantly, the hosts were without Jason Roy that day, with the opener now fit again and firing on all cylinders.

“You have to beat everyone, regardless of who it is or where it is,” Finch told reporters. “Playing well against England a couple of weeks ago obviously will give us some confidence going into that game.

“England have been in really good form recently so we are going to have to be at our absolute best to win that. “But it’s going to be exciting. Any time Australia plays England, it’s exciting. But any time you are at Birmingham as well. It’s a fun crowd to play in front of.

“It’s going to be a great atmosphere and spectacle.”Defeat against South Africa was compounded by the sight of batsman Usman Khawaja retiring hurt on six with a hamstring injury, while all-rounder Marcus Stoinis continued to struggle with a side strain.

Australia head coach Justin Langer has confirmed Khawaja will miss the rest of the World Cup.Matthew Wade will replace Khawaja in the squad, subject to confirmation from the ICC.

Meanwhile, off-spinner Nathan Lyon has also tried to ramp up the pressure on England by insisting “it’s their World Cup to lose”. Lyon insisted the burden of expectation was on the tournament hosts, even though England have never won the World Cup.

“They’re full of world-class players and they’ve been the number one team for a couple of years now,” Lyon said after Saturday’s match. “They should be going into this World Cup as favourites, it’s all on them. It’s their World Cup to lose if you ask me.

“We’ve got nothing to lose, we’ve only got stuff to gain. That’s the exciting thing about it.” However, England coach Trevor Bayliss is confident that his side won’t crack under pressure.

England were bowled out for 221 against Australia and also lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka after batting second. But Bayliss has no concerns that England will panic if they find themselves in the position of chasing down a score at Edgbaston.

“Over the past four years we have won 14 of the last 17 times we have batted second,” he told BBC Radio 5Live’s Sportsweek programme. “So batting second doesn’t scare our guys and the wickets are a little better now than they were earlier in the tournament. We are full of confidence and happy to be in the semi-finals. “Asked about losing to Australia earlier in the tournament, Bayliss added: “I think it was more to do with the way we approached the game.”