Dhaka – England marched into the final of the ICC Men’s World Cup for the fourth time, defeating defending champion Australia by eight wickets at Edgbaston on Thursday.
Before England, New Zealand knocked India out of the World Cup to book a spot in the finals for the second successive time. None of the finalists won a World Cup before. It means, cricket will get a new champion this time.
With this loss, Australia remained winless at Edgbaston across the formats of the game since 2000. England, on the other hand, remained unbeaten at the same venue in their last 11 matches across the formats.
The final will take place at Lord’s on July 14.
Australia posted a moderate total of 223 runs while batting first after winning the toss. In reply, England chased the target in 32.1 overs with eight wickets in hand and marched into the final. Their last final appearance was back in 1992 which they lost to Pakistan.
England started the chase adding 124 runs in the first wicket stand by Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow fell for 34 off 43 while Jason kept on scoring and ended up at 85 off 65 with nine fours and five sixes.
Mitchell Starc removed Bairstow while Pat Cummins scalped the wicket of Jason.
In the second wicket stand, Joe Root and English captain Eoin Morgan scored the required 100 runs to seal the game. England ended on 226 for two wickets in 32.1 overs.
With this win, England ended their drought of runs against India, New Zealand and Australia in the World Cups. They had not beaten these three teams in the World Cups since 1992.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. But they lost three wickets in just 14 runs.
David Warner, Aaron Finch and Peter Handscomb fell in quick succession with respective scores of 9, 0 and 4.
Chris Woakes took the first two wickets while Jofra Archer took the other.
However, in the fourth wicket stand, former captain Steve Smith and wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey added 103 runs.
Carey fell for 46 off Adil Rashid who later took the wicket of Marcus Stoinis as well. But Smith was firm on the other end.
Glen Maxwell and Mitchell Starc scored 22 and 29 respectively which helped Australia pass the 200-run mark.
Smith was the highest runs getter with 85 off 119 deliveries, hitting six fours before getting dismissed by a super run-out effort by Jos Buttler.
For England, Woakes and Rashid took three wickets each while Jofra bagged two.UNB
