The defending champions, Australia, have been going strong throughout the tournament only losing 1 game to India, but proving their dominance in the 2019 World Cup contest determinately. On the other hand, England has been looking forward to an opportunity to take home the World Cup trophy for the very first time and so far they have boasted a heathy team effort.
The both table toppers clashed in the Lord’s cricket ground in England, to secure the No.1 spot and Australia dominating once more, crushed England to acquire a 64 runs win retaining the table top position in the ongoing ICC World Cup contest. Opting to bowl first, England couldn’t quite get the desired start they wished for, as Australian openers Aaron Finch and David Warner put 123 runs partnership. However, Moeen Ali makes the first breakthrough by scalping David Warner (53 out; 61b; 6X4). The captain went on batting after Warner’s wicket and was taking Australia with Khawaja’s partnership to a good defendable target, but Ben Stokes clears Ushman Khawaja (23 out; 29b; 1X4) out in the 33rd over. Soon after Aaron Finch (100 out; 116b; 11X4, 2X6) complete his century, Jofra Archer restricts him from damaging anymore. With Steve Smith ((38 out; 34b; 5X4) and Glenn Maxwell (12 out; 8b; 1X4, 1X6), two new batsmen at crease England was steadily dominating the game. As wickets kept crumbling, apart from Smith and later Alex Carry’s (38 not out; 27b; 5X4) cameo, the rest of the Australia’s batting line-up failed to contribute much while managing to score 285 runs with the loss of 7 wickets.
Mitchell Starc and Jason Behrendroff’s exceptional bowling hit England hard, taking an upper hand on the game throughout the second innings. The top order of England’s batting line-up along with captain Eoin Morgan (4 out; 7b; 1X4) failed to create an impact; the damage which was caused by the sheer combination of Starc and Behrendroff. However, Ben Stokes in the middle started to show another lone effort to turn the game around in favor of England. He boasted little partnerships with Jos Buttler (25 out; 27b; 2X4) and Chris Woakes (26 out; 34b; 2X4), but with Buttler down, Ben Stokes (89 out; 115b; 8X4, 2X6) had a lot to do give the home crowd another victory and he was the solitary man pushing the score with his 89 off 115 balls. Adil Rashid ((25 out; 20b; 3X4, 1X6) gave a quick cameo at the end but Mitchell Starc taking 4 wickets and Jason Behrendroff with the 5-wicket haul decimated the England batting restricting them at 221 with 5.2 overs to go to score 64 but with the loss of 10 wickets.
