Poms in danger of not qualifying

LONDON, June 25, (RTRS): Australia ruthlessly demolished England by 64 runs at Lord’s on Tuesday to march into the Cricket World Cup semi-finals and put the hosts in serious danger of failing to make the last four.

Captain Aaron Finch continued his fine form with a knock of 100 to lead Australia to 285 for seven after being put in to bat on a murky morning at the home of cricket.

England quickly collapsed to 26 for three and although Ben Stokes defied a calf injury to score a brave 89, England never seriously threatened to reach their target as Jason Behrendorff took five wickets and they were bowled out for 221 in the 45th over.

Australia’s sixth win in seven games took the defending champions into the semi-finals while England, the pre-tournament favourites, have now lost three matches and may need to beat India and New Zealand to make the knockout stages. “You don’t win the tournament if you don’t reach the semis. That’s the first bit ticked off,” said man-of-the-match Finch.

“England are a standout side, they are a team that can take you apart at stages. We found ways to keep getting wickets. Behrendorff bowled beautifully.” England made a shocking start to their chase when James Vince was comprehensively bowled second ball for nought by Behrendorff.

Mitchell Starc trapped Joe Root lbw for eight and captain Eoin Morgan, on four, hooked Starc to Pat Cummins at fine leg.

Stokes and Jonny Bairstow tried to engineer a recovery but Bairstow, on 27, played a wild heave off Behrendorff and gave Cummins another comfortable catch on the boundary.

 Stokes reached a patient fifty off 75 balls and he and Jos Buttler added 71 before Buttler (25) tried to pull Marcus Stoinis for six and picked out Usman Khawaja running round the square leg boundary.

Stokes, struggling to run and requiring on-field treatment, launched Glenn Maxwell for two sixes and England had the faintest sniff of an unlikely win until Starc returned to the attack and bowled Stokes with a fierce yorker.

Moeen Ali was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey off Behrendorff for six, Chris Woakes fell for 26 and Jofra Archer (one) became Behrendorff’s fifth victim before Adil Rashid was last man out for 25.

“I thought for a lot of today we were outplayed,” Morgan said.

“Losing early wickets was not ideal and we were not able contribute to a substantial partnership to win the game. Given the circumstances it is not hugely disappointing.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA

A. Finch c Woakes b Archer         ....100

D. Warner c Root b Ali 53

U. Khawaja b Stokes  23

S. Smith c Archer b Woakes        38

G. Maxwell c Buttler b Wood      12

M. Stoinis run out      8

A. Carey not out        38

P. Cummins c Buttler b Woakes  1

M. Starc not out        4

Extras: (4lb, 4w)        8

Total: (50 overs, 7 wickets)         285

Did not bat: Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon

Fall of wickets: 1-123, 2-173, 3-185, 4-213, 5-228, 6-250, 7-259

Bowling: Chris Woakes 10-0-46-2, Jofra Archer 9-0-56-1, Mark Wood 9-0-59-1, Ben Stokes 6-0-29-1, Moeen Ali 6-0-42-1, Adil Rashid 10-0-49-0.

ENGLAND

J. Vince b Behrendorff              0

J. Bairstow c Cummins b Behrendorff         27

J. Root lbw b Starc     8

E. Morgan c Cummins b Starc      4

B. Stokes b Starc        89

J. Buttler c Khawaja b Stoinis      25

C. Woakes c Finch b Behrendorff                26

M. Ali c Carey b Behrendorff      6

A. Rashid c Stoinis b Starc            25

J. Archer c Warner b Behrendorff              1

M. Wood not out      1

Extras: (1b, 5lb, 3w)   9

Total: (44.4 overs, all out)           221

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-15, 3-26, 4-53, 5-124, 6-177, 7-189, 8-202, 9-211, 10-221

Bowling: Jason Behrendorff 10-0-44-5, Mitchell Starc 8.4-1-43-4, Pat Cummins 8-1-41-0, Nathan Lyon 9-0-43-0, Marcus Stoinis 7-0-29-1, Glenn Maxwell 2-0-15-0.

Standings

                P              W              L               NR            T               NRR           Pts

Australia      7               6               1               0               0               +0.906        12

New Zealand                6               5               0               1               0               +1.306        11

India          5               4               0               1               0               +0.809        9

England      6               4               3               0               0               +1.051        8

Bangladesh  7               3               3               1               0               -0.133         7

Sri Lanka      6               2               2               2               0               -1.119         6

Pakistan      6               2               3               1               0               -1.265         5

West Indies  6               1               4               1               0               +0.190        3

South Africa 7               1               5               1               0               -0.324         3

Afghanistan  7               0               7               0               0               -1.634         0

Note: Standings read as played, won, lost, tie, net run rate and points. (AP)