ICC WC 2019: Australia beat England, secures semifinal berth

London: Defending champions Australia didn’t have struggle much as their bowlers dished out a clinical performance to thrash England by 64 runs  in the World Cup match here at Lord’s cricket ground on Tuesday.

Mitchell Starc (4/43), Jason Behrendroff (5/44) ripped through England batting and didn’t allow them to settle down on the crease except Ben Stokes who scored 89 off 155 balls with the help of 8 fours and 2 sixes.

With this win, Australia are the first team to secure semifinal berth.

While chasing 286 to win, the host got off to a disastrous start as the openers couldn’t contribute much in the game. James Vince expected was the first one to walk towards the pavilion for duck as he was bowled by Behrendroff.

England suffered a second loss in the 3.3 over, when new batsman Joe Root (8) just opened his account was looking forward to stretch his innings but he was lbw by Starc. He left England on a score of 15/2.

Jonny Bairstow struggled during his stay on the crease, as he didn’t the get the support from the other end.  Eoin Morgan too walked to back to the hut after scoring 4 runs. Bairstow (27) fought hard under pressure but failed to contribute for his team and was dismissed by Behrendroff. Within, five over England had already lost their four wickets on a score of 53.

However, Jos Buttler and Stokes stitched a 71-runs-partnership for the fifth wicket and took the hosts from 53 to 124 runs but this partnership journey came to an end in 27.2 over when Buttler was caught by Usman Khawaja on Marcus Stoinis ball. He scored 25 off 27 balls.

Despite Stokes wasn’t supported from the other end, still he managed to stay on the crease to chase the target and scored 89 off 115 balls before falling to Starc in 37th over. If he was supported well from the other end then the match scenario would have been different. (UNI)