Wood and Rashid strike hard to reduce Australia to 277 for 9

50 overs Australia 277 for 9 (Head 71, Finch 68, Smith 56, Wood 4-33, Rashid 4-41) v England
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Australia match is no ordinary game, says Morgan

England need 278 to knock Australia out of the Champions Trophy after Adil Rashid’s leg breaks and Mark Wood’s pace tied the visitors in knots under overcast skies at Edgbaston.

Sent in by Eoin Morgan, the Australians seemed likely to set a challenging target for England when they advanced to 239 for 2 in the 43rd over. However Rashid claimed three wickets in his final two overs and Wood also chimed in to orchestrate the loss of five wickets for a mere 15 runs.

That left Steven Smith’s side with only a modest score to defend against an England batting line-up that has been rampant in recent weeks. The rush of wickets highlighted the failure of Australia’s top-order to go on from a series of starts from David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Moises Henriques and Glenn Maxwell.

Travis Head played busily and well, but was left stranded as Rashid and Wood delivered telling spells, assisted by a succession of questionable shot selections. Of the batsmen, only Warner could say he was legitimately beaten by fine delivery, while Maxwell fell victim to an excellent catch by Jason Roy, juggling the ball while stepping over the midwicket boundary to retain his balance.

Warner and Finch had begun in strong fashion, hammering numerous short balls to the boundary on a pitch that was dry and brimful of runs. Wood’s well-pitched delivery running across Warner found an outside edge to break the stand at 40, before Finch and Smith purred along at a run a ball without seeming in trouble.

A century beckoned for Finch, in his most fluent ODI contribution for quite some time, but a mistimed drive at Ben Stokes was skied to a grateful Morgan. Smith, too, looked good for three figures, but after Henriques flattered to deceive in a brief stay ended when he tugged Rashid to mid on, the captain was too early into a drive when Wood returned to the bowling crease and chipped a tame catch to mid off.

Head and Maxwell combined for another useful stand, and appeared ready to launch when Maxwell swatted Wood just within the reach of Roy’s outstretched hands and then nimble feet to claim a fair catch. Rashid then found Matthew Wade and the bowlers susceptible to his guile, the flurry of wickets bringing a raucous crowd to their feet.

The resultant collapse left 300 out of reach, but the No. 11 Josh Hazlewood was at least able to keep Head company in the closing overs to add 23 precious runs. Head’s innings showed tremendous composure, and also suggested he may be due for further promotion up the batting order.

Australia and England had both named unchanged teams from their previous encounters, meaning Adam Zampa and Jake Ball retained their places after coming in for matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand respectively. Every game played at Edgbaston so far in this tournament has been interrupted by rain in some way, and more showers are forecast for later on Saturday afternoon.

While England have already qualified, the Australians must win the match in order to stay in contention, and will also be knocked out in the event of a third successive washout, by dint of Bangladesh’s dramatic defeat of New Zealand – both teams would then be on three points, but Bangladesh would progress due to having won a game.

The encounter can also be viewed as the start of the run-in to the Ashes series to be played in Australia later in the year, with both sides eager to give the opposition some thinking to do in the months between now and the first ball at the Gabba in late November.

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Source: ESPN Crickinfo