Australia’s win sees them put one foot into the
semifinals, while England’s sixth defeat finally sees them mathematically out of contention
Ahmedabad, Nov 4: Adam Zampa produced three timely strikes in the middle overs as Australia knocked out defending champions England out of the ODI World Cup with a 33-run win here on Saturday, their fifth consecutive victory.
Australian batters were guilty of not converting starts but still managed to post 286 against arch-rivals England. Marnus Labuschagne (71 off 83) recorded his highest score of the tournament.
England, whose formidable batting line-up has massively underperformed in their title defence, had a good opportunity to pick up a win after four consecutive losses.Amid heavy dew, Ben Stokes (64 off 90) kept the chase alive while batting alongside Dawid Malan (50 off 64 ) and Moeen Ali (42 off 43) before Zampa landed the killer blows to stop England at 253 in 48.1 overs.
Chris Woakes (32 off 33) tried his best towards the end but it wasn’t enough.Zampa first had out-of-form England skipper Jos Buttler (1) caught in the deep before getting rid of Stokes in a soft dismissal.It was a short ball on the leg side and Stokes ended up offering a simple catch to Stoinis at short-fine leg.Moreover, Australia’s sharp fielding also contributed to their fifth win in a row. (PTI)