Semi-final Match 2: AUS vs ENG
England made their way into the final to set compete against New Zealand at the Lord’s, the Home of Cricket, on Sunday. The England vs Australia match saw England win by eight wickets, chasing 224 with more than 17 overs to spare. It was a clinical performance from them throughout the match, and they never let Australia dominate the game at any point. While Chris Woakes was the hero with the ball (3/20), Jason Roy put in little effort to fend off the opponent’s bowling attack in the chase.
He and Jonny Bairstow added 124 runs in less than 18 overs and the contest looked to be done. It was the excellent batting from Roy that made the Aussie bowling attack look out of its usual form. None of the bowlers was spared including Mitchell Starc going for 70 runs in his nine overs. Both the openers got out and at 147/2, it looked like Australia had were done for.
Both Eoin Morgan and Joe Root were surgical, disciplined, and brilliant with their bats. They didn’t let the pressure get to them, and didn’t allow the arch-rivals to make a comeback in the game as well. Their unbeaten stand of 79 runs ensured them that they are in the finals. While Roy scored 85 before getting out, Morgan and Root remained unbeaten in the 40s to get the team home with a lot of overs in hand.
Earlier in the game, after opting to bat first, Australia couldn’t put up as many points as they would have wanted to. Steve Smith scored 85 to help his team post a competitive total on the board but it wasn’t enough. They were reeling at 14/3 in the first six overs of the innings itself and the defending champions never recovered. The Smith and Alex Carey partnership tried to add more points to the target, but the run-scoring was not at a worrying pace for England at any stage.
Carey once again played a fighting knock of 46 runs but there were not many contributions from the other batsmen. Mitchell Starc hung around with Smith in the end to score 29 runs which took Australia to a decent total. But the English batsmen were too good in the chase and are looking dangerous going into the final.
The final match will see England vs New Zealand, both of who are looking for their first world cup title.