CHENNAI, Dec 11: England will defend their men’s World Team squash title against Australia here on Wednesday after the old rivals saw off France and Egypt respectively in the last-four clashes.

England beat European rivals France 2-1 in Tuesday’s semi-final, set up by Peter Barker’s opening victory over Renan Lavigne (11-6, 11-6, 11-6).

The second tie between Nick Mathew and Gregory Gaultier also turned out to be one-sided as the Frenchman struggled to raise his game.

At times, Gaultier tried to out-wit Mathew with sheer pace but the Englishman eventually ran out an easy winner at 11-3, 11-6, 11-4. Thierry Lincou claimed a late consolation win over James Willstrop in the dead rubber but it was too little too late for the French team.

Eight-time champions Australia were lifted to a 2-1 win over Egypt by David Palmer, the world number four producing the game of his life to end the 21-week winning streak of world number one Amr Shabana.

Palmer’s aggressive 3-1 win levelled the score at 1-1 after Australia’s Cameroon Pilley (world ranked 23) lost to 14th ranked Mohammed Abbas 1-3.

In the decider, Egypt’s eighth seeded Karim Darwish fell to Stewart Boswell, the 15th world ranking pulling off a surprise 3-1 win.

The victory ensured Australia’s 11th tournament final, with their last win coming over France in 2003.

England coach David Pearson expressed his surprise that France had not mounted a more spirited fight.

“We expected tight matches but there were no brutal encounters today,” he told AFP.

“Perhaps it was because Gregory (Gaultier) was totally off form and could not play to his usual aggressive style,” Pearson said of the crucial second game won by Mathew.

Asked about England’s chances against Australia, Pearson said: “It is like our Ashes series in cricket. The rivalry between the countries is there in every sporting event.

“But I rate our chances 50-50. We will not be under pressure. Since our goal was to get to the finals, the pressure was there today before the match.”After his key win over Shabana, Australian Palmer said he had been “emotionally charged up” for the game.

“This is a great victory for me since I have lost all my four recent matches this season to him,” he said.

“I think he was visibly tired having won four or five tournaments at a stretch this season.

“If I were his coach, I would not have played Shabana in this tournament since Egypt have more rated players to vie for honours in team championships.

“Besides this, Shabana played matches against lowly teams too in this championship when he need not have played in order to reserve his energy.”But Egypt’s top player disagreed, telling AFP: “I need to play for Egypt but I am unhappy that my country lost today.

“I was tired all right but I must credit that Palmer played better, particularly when chips were down.”

Results (semi-finals):

Australia bt Egypt 2-1 (Cameroon Pilley lost to Mohammed Abbas 11-7, 7-11, 4-11, 8-11; David Palmer bt Amr Shabana 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6; Stewart Boswell bt Karim Darwish 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8); England bt France 2-1 (Pater Barker bt Renen Lavigne 11-6, 11-6, 11-6; Nick Mathew bt Gregory Gaultier 11-3, 11-6, 11-4; James Willstrop lost to Thierry Lincou 10-11 (0-2), 8-11).

Placing matches: 17 to 29

Bermuda bt Venezuela 2-1 (Robert Maycock bt Richard Prieto 11-4, 11-5, 11-9; Chase Toogood bt Fransisco Valecillo 11-7, 11-7, 11-9; Mel Cairnes lost to Juan Pablo Sanchez 5-11, 5-11); Kuwait bt Kenya 3-0 (Nasser Al-Ramezi bt Hartaj Bains 11-8, 11-6, 11-4; Bader Al-Hussaini bt Hardeep Reel 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 10-11 (1-3), 11-5; Abdullah Al-Mezayen bt Rajdeep Bains 11-4, 11-3); Sweden bt Japan 3-0 (Rasmus Hult bt Yuta Fiukui 11-4, 11-5, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7; Christian Drakenberg bt Jun Matsumoto 6-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-3; Badr Aziz bt Takanori Shimizu 11-4, 9-11, 11-9); Sri Lanka bt Russia 2-1 (Anura Hewage bt Valery Litvinko 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5; Saman Thilakaratne lost to Alexi Severinov 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 9-11; Navin Samarasinghe bt Sergey Kostrykin 11-10 (3-1), 11-4, 11-10); Scotland bt Spain 2-1 (Henry Leitch bt Arturo Santo Tomas 11-2, 11-7, 11-4; Alan Clyne bt David Vidal Villamide 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (2-0), 11-8; Stuart Crawford lost to Alejandro Garbi Caro 10-11 (3-5), 11-8, 10-11 (0-2)); Finland bt Austria 3-0 (Henrik Mustonen bt Andreas Freudensprung 11-5, 11-5, 11-10 (3-1); Olli Tuominen bt Aqueel Rehman 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6; Matias Tuomi bt Jakob Dirnberger 11-9, 11-7).—AFP