England, Australia renew rivalry in Edgbaston World Cup blockbuster
BIRMINGHAM: For England to advance to the World Cup final in front of their own fans, Australia must do something they have never done before in seven previous semi-finals at the tournament — lose.
Five-time champions Australia and six-time semi-finalists England meet on Thursday at Edgbaston in an eagerly-awaited match with the winners playing New Zealand in the final at Lord’s on Sunday.
An England team with no serious injury concerns goes into the Birmingham game on the back of convincing wins against India and New Zealand but it also proved unexpectedly vulnerable earlier in the league stage with losses to Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia.
Despite the high-stakes game, England captain Eoin Morgan is determined to still enjoy it.
“You can lose sight of the fact ... you are living your dream,” Morgan said. “I don’t think it is impossible to play with a smile on your face.”
Barely two weeks ago, Australia ripped through England’s batters with left-arm quicks Jason Behrendorff (5-44) and Mitchell Starc (4-43) virtually unplayable in a 64-run win which saw England all out for 221.
That’s the wrong way of looking at it for England’s Joe Root, who failed to make double digits in that game and was trapped leg before by Starc, the tournament’s leading wicket taker with 26.
Root prefers to use his own numbers. “If you look at the past 11 games against them we have won nine,” the England star batsman. “These guys and this group over the last four years, their experience against Australia have been very positive and they have got a lot of success in the bank ... we will be drawing on that confidence that, over a long period of time now, we have been successful against Australia and we should take that into Thursday.”
On the threat posed by Starc and Behrendorff, Root said England’s players had ‘faced a lot of left arm stuff’ over their careers and that the pressure also was on Australia’s bowlers. “It works both ways.”
Morgan was more measured than Root, saying: “We can practice as much as we can against left-armers, but we need to deliver tomorrow [Thursday].”
Just to be in with a sniff of the final is an achievement of sorts for England, who had to win their last two games against Virat Kohli’s India at Edgbaston and 2015 finalists New Zealand to guarantee their first semi-final spot since 1992.
England are playing their sixth semi-final, losing in 1975 and 1983 when they hosted the tournament. England reached the final in 1979 when they also hosted 1987 and 1992, losing to West Indies, Australia and Pakistan, respectively.