AHMEDABAD: Australia can deliver the final blow to old enemy England’s dismal World Cup campaign on Saturday with memories of their acrimonious Ashes series still fresh.

Jos Buttler’s defending champions sit rock bottom of the 10-nation group with one win in six games, requiring a mathematical miracle to squeeze into the semi-finals.

On Saturday, they face an Australian team who come into the game at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad in ominous form with four straight wins.

However, the five-time winners, who sit third in the standings and on course for the semi-finals, will be without two key players in Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh.

England’s most recent loss was a 100-run thrashing at the hands of unbeaten India in Lucknow and defeat to Australia will not only knock them out of contention for a semi-final spot but also put them in danger of missing the 2025 Champions Trophy.

England must finish in the top seven places to qualify for the 50-over tournament in Pakistan.

The two fierce rivals played out an exhilarating and often bitter Ashes this year with the five-match Test series ending 2-2 with Joe Root attempting to rally England with fighting words, calling his team a better outfit “man for man”.

Root said England, however, should be top of the table with the quality in their squad, and the players were “all very frustrated that wasn’t the case.”

“Man for man, I’d have this team every day over the Australians,” Root told British media. “We might not have played as well as we can do but we know when we play our best stuff, the best teams struggle to compete with us.

“We’ve just got to look at Saturday as our World Cup final and play in the manner that’s expected of us and we expect of ourselves.”

Australia captain Pat Cummins struggled to stifle laughter on Friday as he made light of Root’s comments, saying: “Of course he’d say that, [I] would say the same about our team. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

Cummins added the historic rivalry will be an added incentive to win the match and shore up a semi-final spot.

“I mean it helps our chances to get into the semis so that’s probably the overarching feeling of winning this one,” said Cummins. “It’s an old rivalry. You’re not going to lie, if they beat us, I know it’s probably just that little bit sweeter than beating other teams. And the same with their history of how well they’ve done in white ball cricket. It would be a great win.”

The loss of Maxwell (injured) and Marsh (personal reasons) has been a blow to Australia but Cummins hoped the five-time champions will cope.

“Yeah, it’s not ideal. Both have been star players of the tournament so far at different times,” Cummins said. “That’s the way it is. We knew at the start of the tournament we were going to need a full squad of 15. And yeah, I’m not even sure we’ve played the same 11 two games in a row through injury or selection. So, it’s kind of unfortunate, but we knew over a two-month tournament you’re going to have to chop and change a bit.”

England have brushed aside any talk of an unlikely mathematical miracle of making the final-four and all-rounder Ben Stokes conceded on Friday that “nothing’s worked” in a disastrous campaign.

After facing Australia, the defending champions still have to play the Netherland in Pune on November 8 and Pakistan at Kolkata on November 11.

“We’ve had a disastrous World Cup and there’s no point sugar-coating that because it’s the truth,” Stokes, who will undergo surgery on a troublesome knee after the ongoing World Cup, told reporters.

“But we know these last three games, for us, we’ve got a lot to play for. I think the biggest thing that we’ve got to play for is obviously the pride of what it is to put the Three Lions on your chest, walking out on to the field every time is a very special occasion and something that we value very highly.”

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2023