ICC World Cup 2019: Match 32, England vs Australia, Review – Starc, Behrendorff and Finch propel Aussies to an easy win at Lord’s

This was Australia's sixth win in the World Cups against England.

Published - 25 Jun 2019, 17:22 IST | Updated - 25 Jun 2019, 17:22 IST

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Another comprehensive outing for the five-time champions Australia saw hosts England get crumbled. A much better effort was expected from the hot favourites led by Eoin Morgan, but history just repeated itself and there was nothing they could do but succumb to the wrath of Aaron Finch and company.

David Warner and Aaron Finch are making a habit of giving Australia a strong start, which isn’t a great sign for other teams. They once again bossed it against the new ball, letting go of the good ones and countering the bad ones. Warner was playing with a much better strike rate and completed his fifty just six balls after the aggressive Aaron Finch got to his half-century.

The duo’s 123-run partnership came to an end with Moeen Ali getting rid of David Warner. Finch continued the good work alongside Usman Khawaja and added 50 runs with him for the second wicket. Khawaja once again got a start and failed to convert it into a big one, falling for a 29-ball 23. Aaron Finch completed his third hundred of the tournament three overs after Khawaja’s dismissal, but he fell exactly after his hundred and Australia began to struggle.

Some outstanding fast bowling in the middle overs helped the English pull momentum in their favour. Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis couldn’t partner Steve Smith for a big stand but there was a decent cameo coming from Alex Carey. Australia finished with 285 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their 50 overs. Woakes returned with excellent figures of 2/46 for the hosts.

Starc and Behrendorff carry the torch from Finch

The home of cricket witnessed a horrendous top order collapse from the host side in this run chase. Jason Behrendorff dismissed James Vince for a duck and Starc set up Joe Root beautifully to bamboozle him with a beautiful inswinger. Eoin Morgan tried to hook Mitchell Starc, but could only find the deep fine-leg fielder and England were struggling at 26/3.

Jonny Bairstow seemed to have gotten a good start, but he too fell in the Behrendorff trap and threw his wicket away. Ben Stokes once again was the lone warrior for England, just the way it happened against Sri Lanka. Jos Buttler stood strong and got a good start, but he remained a spectator during his partnership with Stokes where the southpaw took the central role.

Buttler and Stokes added 71 runs for the fifth wicket but the former’s untimely dismissal gave the Aussies a firm upper hand with half the Englishmen back in the hunt. Stokes completed his half-century alongside Chris Woakes and was going beautifully towards a hundred. But on 89, he was treated with perhaps one of the best yorkers from the man himself, Mitchell Starc, which knocked his stumps and ended a fine knock.

It was just a formality after that although Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes did get some boundaries going. Behrendorff came back to complete his five-fer whilst Starc registered another fine performance to steer his side home.