England reach first WC final since ’92 after outclassing Australia

Host England reached their first World Cup final since 1992 after outclassing Australia by eight wickets in the second semi-final at Edgbaston in Birmingham Thursday.

England will face New Zealand in the grand finale at Lord’s in London Sunday.

While the home side will be looking to lift their maiden 50-over World Cup title Sunday, the Kiwis will be targeting the same after many missed opportunities in the near and distant past, most recently in 2015 when they lost to trans-Tasman rival Australia.

Chasing 224 runs, England romped home in 32.1 overs with opening batsman Jason Roy providing the fireworks with a quickfire 65-ball 85, featuring nine fours and five sixes.

Opener Jonny Bairstow (34), No 3 batsman Joe Root (49*) and captain Eoin Morgan (45*) all chipped in with vital contributions as England made light work of their target.

Australia were earlier skittled out for a below-par 223 with an over to spare.

Seamer Chris Woakes and spinner Adil Rashid each bagged three wickets while pacer Jofra Archer notched two.

Former Australia captain Steve Smith (85) and wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey’s (46) knocks proved to be inadequate at the end as the home side ran away with the game.

Brilliant Roy shows the way

England needed a good opening stand against the in-form Aussie pacers to lay the foundation for the chase of 224. 

And Roy and Bairstow stitched together yet another century partnership, their sixth in the tournament from eight innings, to take the game away from Australia’s hands. 

Both the openers started watchfully but later played some attacking shots to frustrate the Aussie bowling line-up.  

Roy was particularly in an aggressive mood.  

England lost their first wicket in the 18th over when Bairstow departed, but the home side already took control by then. 

Roy smashed three consecutive sixes against part-timer Smith in the 16th over and the home crowd were on their feet as runs were flowing quite easily.

Roy’s entertaining innings ended in a bit of a disappointing way as he was caught by Carey off Pat Cummins’ bowling. 

Umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised his finger after a long appeal from the Australians and Roy looked absolutely frustrated while going back to the pavilion, signaling to the umpire that it should have been given as a wide. 

As England already lost the review, Roy had no choice to examine his dismissal.

Earlier, Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bat first.

Australia made one change to their playing XI as middle-order batsman Peter Handscomb was included in place of the injured Usman Khawaja while England remained unchanged.

Archer-Woakes rattle Australia top-order

Despite losing the toss and being asked to field first, England’s opening bowling pair of Woakes and Archer produced a great spell of fast bowling and rattled Australia’s top-order. 

Archer initiated the first breakthrough as he removed Finch for a golden duck in the first ball of the second over. 

After Woakes’ strike in the third over, when he removed the in-form David Warner (nine), Australia were under pressure straightaway. 

Handscomb, who was playing his first match of the tournament, was not able to make any impact as he became the second victim of Woakes in the first ball of the seventh over.

Archer was bowling with good pace at the other end and in the last ball of the seventh over, he hit Carey on the helmet with a bouncer.

It left Carey bloodied and requiring medical attention. 

That kind of summed up how England checked Australia in the first hour and after 10 overs, Australia managed to score only 27 losing three wickets.

Smith battles alone for the Aussies

No 3 batsman Smith and Carey tried to rebuild the innings and added 103 for the fourth wicket.  

Rashid made a double blow for England as he took the wickets of well-set Carey (46) and Marcus Stoinis in the 28th over. 

Glenn Maxwell only scored 22 and Australia were well and truly in trouble. 

But Smith stood strong all the way and tried to build partnerships with several batsmen but could not manage to find a proper partner to prolong Australia’s total.

Smith came out to bat in the second over and batted until the 48th, scoring a crucial 85 off 119 deliveries with half a dozen boundaries, which gave Australia some hope. 

His innings ended after a brilliant throw from Jos Buttler but by that time, Australia edged past the 200-mark. 

Like the opening pair, England bowled tight lines and lengths in the last few overs and Australia were wrapped up for 223 in 49 overs.

2ND SEMI-FINAL

AUSTRALIA INNINGS        R    B

Warner c Bairstow b Woakes    9    11

Finch lbw b Archer        0    1

Smith run out (Buttler)    85    119

Handscomb b Woakes    4    12

Carey c sub (Vince) b Rashid    46    70

Stoinis lbw b Rashid        0    2

Maxwell c Morgan b Archer    22    23

Cummins c Root b Rashid    6    10

Starc c Buttler b Woakes    29    36

Behrendorff b Wood        1    4

Lyon not out            5    6

Extras (lb6, w10)        16

Total (49 overs)        223/10

Fall Of Wickets

1-4 (Finch), 2-10 (Warner), 3-14 (Handscomb), 4-117 (Carey), 5-118 (Stoinis), 6-157 (Maxwell), 7-166 (Cummins), 8-217 (Smith), 9-217 (Starc), 10-223 (Behrendorff)

Bowling

Woakes 8-0-20-3, Archer 10-0-32-2 (w2), Stokes 4-0-22-0, Wood 9-0-45-1 (w4), Plunkett 8-0-44-0 (w3), Rashid 10-0-54-3 (w1)

ENGLAND INNINGS        R    B

Roy c Carey b Cummins    85    65

Bairstow lbw b Starc        34    43

Root not out            49    46

Morgan not out        45    39

Extras (lb1, w12)        13

Total (32.1 overs)        226/2

Fall Of Wickets

1-124 (Bairstow), 2-147 (Roy)

Bowling

Behrendorff 8.1-2-38-0 (w1), Starc 9-0-70-1 (w3), Cummins 7-0-34-1 (w2), Lyon 5-0-49-0, Smith 1-0-21-0 (w1), Stoinis 2-0-13-0 (w1)

England won by eight wickets

MoM: Chris Woakes


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