Recent Match Report – Australia vs England, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, 36th Match

Australia 286 (Labuschagne 71, Green 47, Woakes 4-54) beaten England 253 (Stokes 64, Malan 50, Zampa 3-21) by 33 runs

It’s finish. And it’s not just the worst World Cup defense in the history of international sport.

Everything that for eight heady years had been taken for granted about England’s white-ball hitters has vanished without a trace, as if a Hollywood villain had pilfered from a sporting almanac of the future and adjusted the dials of the Delorean from the 2015 World Cup team. We have entered an era of endless, hopeless failure – the miracle of 2019 lost forever to a fork in the space-time continuum.

England’s sixth defeat – by 33 runs in Ahmedabad – in seven matches was in turn Australia’s fifth victory in five, through which they managed to break away from a fierce field to tighten their grip for a place in the semi-finals. It was slightly less sedate than some of England’s defeats – thanks to another lively display of bowling led by Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes, who also rallied bravely at the death with the bat, and another compelling observation but far too brief by Ben Stokes in #HeroMode.

But with Adam Zampa rising to the top of the tournament wicket charts with an outstanding score of 3 for 21 in ten overs, Australia’s seemingly middle-of-the-road target of 287 was never in realistic question – especially after another abject powerplay in which Joe Root, one of England’s players. undisputed greats in all formats, produced an innings of such horror that it truly deserves to be his last in colorful clothing.

England v Australia always tends to exist outside of context, but not on this occasion. Australia’s victory ended everything: England’s barely non-existent hopes of a top-four finish; their claim on the so-called #MoralAshes, especially after Marnus Labuschagne’s Test-tempo 71 proved to be the deciding score of the match; and perhaps even their hopes of competing in the 2025 Champions Trophy, if other results work against them in the coming days.

Ironically, the only thing that must limp is England’s World Cup campaign itself. Netherlands are next to make an unlikely shot at European Championship glory, ahead of Pakistan – fueled by qudrat ka nizam after their stunning win in Bengaluru – put on a show in Kolkata with a chance to make their 1992 comeback a standard day in life.

Just as had been the case in their 100-run loss to India in their previous outing, England played a pretty shrewd game for the first 50 overs of the match, bowling out Australia for 286 after won the toss, hoping – then as now – that the appearance of the evening dew might even out a two-paced wicket and allow the ball to slide more freely over the bat.

But, even if that ultimately proved to be the case, England’s desperate lack of batting form had long since dashed any hopes of making the depth of their line-up count. The nadir arguably came when Jos Buttler, their captain and white-ball GOAT, skimmed the first ball of Zampa’s fifth over to Cameron Green at long-off to trudge out for 1 from six balls – leaving England in the soup at 106 for 4 at They were halfway through their chase – but the omens were dark from the start of a nerve-wracking pursuit.

The England of old could take mishaps in their stride – take Jason Roy’s mighty white-ball record for example; who had been marred by countless dismissals, including on the very first ball of his career, but that trait factored into his willingness to take the chance, knowing his teammates would close ranks around him.

By contrast, when Jonny Bairstow brought in a harmless release from Mitchell Starc to leave England 0 for 1 after a ball from their innings, the groan of recognition was palpable from the dugout to the press dugout to the bench seat. every England. fan. Starc’s reaction was extremely sheepish. Nonetheless, after going wicketless for the first time in his World Cup career against New Zealand last week, Starc was back on the board at the first opportunity, and Australia were back on the map in his favorite rivalry.

What followed, from England’s perspective, was bloody and uncomfortable viewing. Even though Dawid Malan hunkered down for the long haul with his familiar cold blood, Root’s balance underwent another thorough rinse. His second ball drive for four was as good as his evening could be. In the space of his next 15 balls, he survived a weight appeal from Starc by the scruff of his leg, a nasty fall from Marcus Stoinis at point and a sharp drive from Josh Hazlewood who escaped at second slip .

Root’s luck was there, could you presume? Unfortunately, his form isn’t there, and there were only so many goodies that could escape Australia’s clutches. He could have escaped with another life when Starc lured him into the canal once again, but Labuschagne came out of his cover to insist he had heard a noise. UltraEdge duly confirmed a slight knock to leave England 19 for 2 in the fifth over, and Root had succumbed to his 11th powerplay dismissal in 18 innings since the 2019 World Cup, during which he averaged a dreadful 5.63.

In Stokes and Malan, England still had two batters whose seemingly contrasting methods united in the belief that good things come to those who establish a platform. And as they prepared an 84-run stand for the third wicket, at a similar pace to that with which Labuschagne and Steve Smith had revived Australia’s own innings, a flash of muscle memory reverberated through the England equation.

But then Malan, on 50, surrendered his innings with an overenthusiastic removal of Cummins, to expose the out-of-form Buttler to a match situation his playing brain cannot currently calculate, and although Moeen Ali be shown clumsy. occasion with a diligent run-a-ball 42, England’s entire psyche in the innings screamed “Stokes or bust”, and Australia knew it too.

Despite his horror duck against India, Stokes’ stage presence was not dimmed, as he allowed himself to reach 15 from 37 balls before his first real shot of anger, a fierce straight drive for four against Starc. Thereafter, he became increasingly powerful and muscular, his sleeves filled with the obligatory limp as that troublesome left knee repeatedly buckled under the force of his leg throws.

But for all his Superman bravado, his innings had far too much in common with his lost-cause Ashes assaults at Headingley and Lord’s – and his loud moan of “oh no!” as he swept the incorrigible Zampa, he confirmed that more than his innings of 64 off 90 ended as Stoinis held on to his short, fine leg. Liam Livingstone, oddly preferred to Harry Brook despite his own lack of form, lasted less than a year before moving to midwicket, and when Moeen became Zampa’s third superlative spell, the rest was just a simple formality.

It is a measure of England’s desperate funk that Australia arguably won against the lead, following their own display of piecemeal batting which never really got going, and which surely would have been most closely challenged by almost any other pursuit team at this tournament.

Without the power of Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell in their middle order, Australia had huge resources with their equally proactive opening partnership, but Woakes put Travis Head and David Warner in his first three overs, which meant that, at 38 for 2, Labuschagne and Smith had no choice but to fall back on their Ashes best, making a third wicket stand of 75 from 16 overs, to guard against a repeat of their semi-final collapse of 2019.

The late entry of England’s main player, Rashid, would once again destabilize the Australian innings. With 20 overs gone, Smith’s timing was still eluding him when Rashid served a slower, wider google in his second over, which dived during a looping cut attempt to Moeen at backward point for 44.

This quickly became 117 for 4 when Josh Inglis fell to the same combination in Rashid’s second over – this time following an ill-advised reverse sweep off his sixth delivery – and although Labuschagne brought up his half-century from 63 balls, Rashid’s clever variations, and his willingness to pick up his pace against his entrenched opponents, kept Australia waiting until they had the opportunity to break loose.

It took Wood’s return to attack for Australia’s pace to visibly pick up. Green, Maxwell’s replacement, seemed deeply uncomfortable with Wood’s express pace – at one point, four defensive players converged on a high shot as his bat flew from his hands toward the square-leg umpire – but he somehow found enough weight on the wider line to continue to trap his runs all the way to backward point, including a surprising deflected four off a near-accurate yorker at 153 km/h.

And although Wood once again busted his guts to make the difference – extracting a weight that left Labuschagne perplexed as his review showed three reds, before later bombarding Cummins with the short ball – his final figures of 2 out of 70 would confirm that this was the case. another night in which his raw speed proved too excessive every time he missed his target.

Fittingly, it was Zampa who proved this point decisively. At 247 for 8, he alone found the courage to go for the deadly overs – although he needed a large measure of luck when a ball under Wood’s throat at 149 km/h fizzed on his gloves and on the goalkeeper’s head for four. Unfazed, Zampa smashed his very next delivery down the ground for another boundary, and it was 29 off 19 before Woakes ended Australia’s late charge with two wickets in three balls, two more cutters for prove the virtues of rhythm. on a capricious bridge.

This should not have been enough, given England’s once-vaunted reputation for hunting and its belief that the dew factor would be decisive. That would prove enough, on a night when normal service in the white-ball stage of this ancient rivalry resumed in emphatic fashion.