WATCH: Cricket World Cup 2019 – England v Australia highlights

Mitchell Starc Joe Root England Australia World Cup PA

1802 BST: England 221 (44.4 overs) – AUSTRALIA WIN BY 64 RUNS
Simply brilliant form Australia. Their batting got a bit gummed up in the second half of their innings. but the true nature of this pitch was firmly revealed by England’s struggles and Australia have been the better side for the vast majority of the day. Stokes once again the honourable exception in a dreadful batting display, but England have been thoroughly outmatched in all three departments here. Hundred for Finch, tone-setting 50 for Warner when batting should have been at its absolute toughest, and then superb bowling from Australia’s proper five-man attack. Five for Behrendorff and four for Starc the obvious highlights. A couple of excellent catches on the boundary. Even if England do manage to wangle their way into the top four – and make no mistake if they do so with anything other than two wins from their last two games they will be immensely fortunate to have done so – they look a million miles away from the side that has bestrode ODI cricket for the last few years. For Australia, another semi-final secured and, probably for the first time you’d have to say, they are now a team that absolutely has the look of potential winners. Great.

WICKET! Adil Rashid c Stoinis b Starc 25 (20b, 3×4, 1×6, SR: 125.00)
Rashid top-edges Starc for four and then pings him outrageously over extra-cover, but perishes attempting to repeat the trick. Here endeth the lesson. England have been absolutely bullied here by Australia, beaten in the end by 64 runs in a game that was truthfully far more one-sided than that.

1758 BST: England 213/9 (44 overs)
Behrendorff finishes with 5/44. Suspect he’s here to stay now.

WICKET! Jofra Archer c Warner b Behrendorff 1 (4b, SR: 25.00)
Five for Behrendorff as Archer tries and fails to clear long-off. Excellent addition to the side. Worth remembering at this point that, with Behrendorff and Lyon added today, this is the first time Australia – about to seal a sixth win in seven games – have bothered to pick a proper bowling line-up.

1754 BST: England 211/8 (43 overs)
I would just at this point like to retract any and all criticisms I may or may not have made about World Cup formats where you can still go through with four defeats. Cheers.

1750 BST: England 207/8 (42 overs)
Rashid super-wrists here, somehow managing to get a left-armer over short fine-leg for four. We’ve had our Rashid fun if nothing else.

WICKET! Chris Woakes c Finch b Behrendorff 26 (34b, 2×4, SR: 76.47)
Amazing how nobody even bats an eyelid over these catches any more. Woakes tries to get Behrendorff over the midwicket boundary, but Maxwell is in the way. Catches the ball and nonchalantly chucks it back to Finch before going over the rope.

1744 BST: England 200/7 (41 overs)
That’ll do. Rashid runs at Lyon and gets him just over Starc at long-on for six. Nine runs in the over which, extrapolated over the next nine overs, would get England close. Ha.

1740 BST: England 191/7 (40 overs)
Adil Rashid comes in at nine and immediately wrists one out to deep square-leg for a single. Come on, world, just give us half-an-hour of wristy nonsense from Rashid before the inevitable.

WICKET! Moeen Ali c Carey b Behrendorff 6 (9b, 1×4, SR: 66.67)
Moeen slaps Behrendorff over cover for four but then nicks off. The end is nigh.

1734 BST: England 184/6 (39 overs)
Didn’t watch that over. Was looking at the table. Bit of a risk when Starc’s bowling, but he didn’t york anyone so it’s all good.

1730 BST: England 183/6 (38 overs)
They keep putting the table up on the TV. There are now about a million different ways for England to mess this up but by my (probably wrong) fag-packet calculations at least one where they get through without another point. Which would be hilarious to be fair. Don’t quote me, I’m probably wrong. It basically involves India, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Afghanistan winning assorted games against Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies and West Indies beating Pakistan. Something like that anyway.

1724 BST: England 178/6 (37 overs)
Utter, utter perfection from Starc. Stokes trudges off after a second forlorn lone-hand innings in five days. He probably won’t even notice the applause as he makes his way off it, but he deserved it.

WICKET! Ben Stokes b Starc 89 (115b, 8×4, 2×6, SR: 77.39)
Was going to need something special to end this innings from Stokes, and Starc has just produced. Big inswinging yorker, and a genuine contender for ball of the tournament. Absolutely stunning.

1719 BST: England 173/5 (36 overs)
This is another extraordinary lone-hand innings from Stokes after his effort against Sri Lanka. Twice he runs down the pitch at Cummins and flays him through the offside to the fence here. And Woakes joins in with a pull for four from the last ball of the over An over which brings England 13 runs.

1714 BST: England 160/5 (35 overs)
Really is mad that this is Lyon’s first game of the tournament. This attack just so much better balanced with him in there.

1711 BST: England 156/5 (34 overs)
Cummins’ comeback over brings nine runs including two fours. The first is pinged through midwicket by Woakes, who really does look like a pure batsman when at his best – which is often at Lord’s – before Stokes muscles a pull shot into the gap between mid-on and midwicket.

1707 BST: England 147/5 (33 overs)
Stokes struggling to run now as he cramps up in the calf. Lyon back into the attack and gives up just a couple of singles. Reckon Stokes is going to start just trying to mash boundaries at some point pretty soon. Can’t run singles any more.

1704 BST: England 145/5 (32 overs)
Stoinis hasn’t made the runs he’d have liked in this tournament, but he’s done a handy job with the ball. Doing so again today, with just 29 from his seven overs and the huge wicket of Buttler.

1657 BST: England 141/5 (31 overs)
Still Maxwell, and he gets a taste of his own medicine. Stokes, once again the last man on the burning deck for England, heaves a huge six over midwicket and then slog-sweeps a flatter one into the boundary boards. Not a big hit out there, and Stokes can hit big. He moves to 70. He’s now 152/0 in the last two games; the rest of England’s batsmen are 189/15, with extras chipping in another 12. Something to think about at drinks.

1654 BST: England 129/5 (30 overs)
Slow death for England now. Just one run from the over, and that would’ve actually been a Woakes run-out had the throw hit the target.

1650 BST: England 128/5 (29 overs)
England hide Moeen from Lyon, so Australia hide Lyon. Maxwell gets a trundle.

1646 BST: England 125/5 (28 overs)
Lord’s specialist Chris Woakes promoted above Moeen Ali in the batting order. Probably more to do with the horrors Lyon inflicted upon Moeen during the last Ashes to be honest. Not a great look.

WICKET! Jos Buttler c Khawaja b Stoinis 25 (27b, 2×4, SR: 92.59)
Job done for Australia as Buttler tries to flick Stoinis over the square-leg boundary but picks out Khawaja, who judges things well to stay inside the rope having taken the catch.

1635 BST: England 117/4 (26 overs)
Oof. Buttler absolutely nails the last ball of Stoinis’ over straight back for four. Only thing that could have cut that off was Stokes at the non-striker’s end, but he just about manages to get out of the way despite his injury problems. Lengthy treatment after the over. Looks like it’s his calf that’s causing the problem. England are back in to 12/5 for an absolute heist of a win as this partnership develops.

1633 BST: Ben Stokes 50* (75b, 5×4, SR: 66.67)
Some great shots in there, but that has mainly been a struggle. He’s also hobbling around a fair bit now. Not sure if it’s his back or a problem in one of his legs. I’m not a medical doctor, not a trained medical doctor.

1631 BST: England 109/4 (25 overs)
Halfway stage of the England innings and the fact they’ve recovered to this position of abject despair tells you everything. Stokes gets a vaguely comical boundary here as he mishits a chip down the ground but Finch completely misjudges the flight path and gets his angle of attack all wrong to turn a straightforward single into a boundary.

1629 BST: England 105/4 (24 overs)
Fifty partnership in 58 balls between these two. Buttler has only faced 17 of those 58 balls weirdly, scoring 16 compared to Stokes’ 32 off 41 in the stand.

1625 BST: England 102/4 (23 overs)
Stokes not particularly fluent today, and his strike-rate is still nothing much to write home about, but when he has timed the ball today he really has timed it. Sweep shot off Lyon this time that absolutely races across the square.

1622 BST: England 97/4 (22 overs)
Australia waste their review on a bit of a nonsense here. Buttler a long way down the track and across his stumps here as the ball hits the knee-roll. Would surely have been at best umpire’s call for distance down the pitch and going over the top of the stumps even if it wasn’t outside the line, which it was. Probably not going to matter today, but it’s a shonky DRS shout there. Stoinis got very excited and Finch bought into it. Carey was urging caution. Buttler almost goes two balls later anyway after being called through for a dicey single by Stokes. Smith swoops on the ball from midwicket and flicks an underarm throw that just misses the target with Buttler’s dive not enough to get him there.

1616 BST: England 93/4 (21 overs)
Pat Cummins doing a grand low-key strangling job in these middle overs. It’s not glamorous work, but someone’s got to do it. Just 14 runs from his first five overs.

1611 BST: England 91/4 (20 overs)
Bit of Stoinis now. Why not? Stokes, playing a curious innings comprised equal parts careful blocking, watchful nurdling and murderous whacking, goes over mid-off for a one-bounce four. This partnership is actually developing nicely enough at 38 from six overs. For what it’s worth. Which unless that becomes 138 from 20 overs is still very little.

1606 BST: England 83/4 (19 overs)
Absolutely extraordinary shot here from Stokes, one that in any sane world would be worth at least, say, 170 runs. He’s run down the wicket at Cummins and then absolutely annihilated an 85mph short ball through midwicket. There was a fielder on the boundary about eight yards away from it. Never moved. Goodness me.

1602 BST: England 79/4 (18 overs)
Stokes and Buttler both continuing to take on the short ball from Starc. Might as well, I suppose.

1558 BST: England 72/4 (17 overs)
Beauty from Lyon beats Buttler all ends up as it spins back past the inside edge and over the top of middle stump. Does Carey as well – decent nut that beats two wicket-keepers – and runs away for a bye. Stokes once again looking England’s most secure (least insecure?) batsman in difficult conditions. Picks up three for a tickle down the legside, two for a punch through cover, and a single down the ground.

1554 BT: England 65/4 (16 overs)
Starc back into the attack looking for the wicket that applies the absolute finishing touches to this. Buttler smacks him for four and then gets a couple for a genuine outside edge that is well cut off by Behrendorff on the rope.

1549 BST: England 57/4 (15 overs)
Buttler and Stokes’ now face the most depressing task in sport: trying to minimise NRR damage.

1545 BST: England 54/4 (14 overs)
The players took drinks after that wicket. Plenty to discuss for England.

WICKET! Jonny Bairstow c Cummins b Behrendorff 27 (39b, 5×4, SR: 69.23)
This really is bobbins. No getting away from it. Bairstow takes on the short boundary, but sends a top edge straight into Cummins’ hands at deep midwicket. Worth remembering that England have won 10 of their last 11 ODIs against Australia. Haven’t lost back-to-back home games since 2015. The timing of this total collapse in form and belief really is extraordinary. Obviously this game is gone now, Buttler miracles notwithstanding, but it’s hard to see how they rouse themselves to get up in two huge must-win games to come.

1537 BST: England 52/3 (13 overs)
Nathan Lyon into the attack. Five runs from the over, Stokes almost producing an identikit version of Warner’s dismissal when spooning a cut shot but finding safety.

1532 BST: England 47/3 (12 overs)
Stokes gets a hard-run two for a hard-struck back-cut. These two trying to get England back into the game, but it’s a forlorn enterprise. They’re winning on the xR and xW stats, though, so that’s something.

1529 BST: England 43/3 (11 overs)
Stokes off the mark after 11 dot balls, down the track to Behrendorff and thumping a drive through the covers. Thumping maybe not the best choice of word.

1525 BST: England 39/3 (10 overs)
Bairstow has played some great shots among the general swishing (and all the nonsense at the other end) and this is the best of them, whipping Cummins off his toes with real power and authority. Races away for four.

1520 BST: England 35/3 (9 overs)
Bairstow just decided to stand there and try and whack it now. Even that’s not working brilliantly, with a couple of swings and misses before he gets one away through the covers for four.

1515 BST: England 30/3 (8 overs)
Cummins into the attack. No let-up. He starts with a maiden, twice going past Stokes’ outside edge. This match utterly defined by the first 10 overs of each innings. For all their effort in bringing it back, England missed their big chance – there was some bad luck involved as well for sure – to take charge of the match. Australia have not missed theirs.

1511 BST: England 30/3 (7 overs)
Bairstow miscues a drive off Behrendorff and just clears mid-off.

1507 BST: England 26/3 (6 overs)
England are approaching a situation now where they are going to rely on other results to reach the last four. It’s even possible they will need an already-qualified India to beat Sri Lanka on the final weekend of group games. It’s even possible they won’t get that far. No hiding from the fact England now facing up to the prospect of another World Cup humiliation. Their biggest yet in many ways.

WICKET! Eoin Morgan c b Starc 4 (7b, 1×4, SR: 57.14)
Ah. That is… not good. Morgan takes on the short ball from Starc, and sends a top edge spiralling to long-leg where Cummins takes a slightly awkward but comfortable enough tumbling catch. England circling the drain within six overs of a run-chase they began as favourites.

1500 BST: England 21/2 (5 overs)
That’s a response from Morgan anyway. Skips down the track to Behrendorff and drills him down the ground for four. Another 50 or so of those and all will be well.

1456 BST: England 15/2 (4 overs)
Wicket-maiden from Starc. Get used to watching him celebrate wickets this summer. Almost has Eoin Morgan as well, England’s captain staying legside of the ball and having a big yahoo at one outside off.

WICKET! Joe Root lbw b Starc 8 (9b, 2×4, SR: 88.88)
There’s the big wicket, and so important is Root that it instantly makes Australia huge favourites here. Again it’s the big inswinger that does the damage, from Starc this time. Root had already been late on a couple of balls in this over, and was again beaten for pace here before the ball thudded into his pads in front of absolutely everything. The conversation between the two batsmen about whether Root should review is a short one.

1449 BST: England 15/1 (3 overs)
First boundary for Bairstow, taking the ball from middle-stump and whipping it through midwicket. Long boundary out there, but it makes it. Huge shout had Bairstow missed it altogether, mind.

1445 BST: England 11/1 (2 overs)
Starc with the other new ball, showing no apparent ill-effect from that twinge he felt in the back of his knee after a quick single earlier. Bairstow off the mark with a drive through point. Not timed, so two rather than four. Adds a single with a slash to third-man before Root gets four with a leg-glance as Starc errs to straight. Fine shot, but also the exact one that got him out against Sri Lanka.

1439 BST: England 4/1 (1 over)
Root cuts the last ball of the over in the air but wide of a diving Maxwell. Gets four, but that is a dangerous shot to be aiming anyway near Maxwell’s patch.

WICKET! James Vince b Behrendorff 0 (2b)
That… is not the start England wanted. Big booming inswinger from Behrendorff, and Vince gets absolutely nowhere near it with a big drive. Brilliant start for Behrendorff, brilliant start for Australia. England’s new-ball bowlers targeted the edge; Australia’s already targeting the stumps.

1434 BST: England’s run-chase about to begin.

1412 BST: Shouldn’t lose sight of the main thing from that innings: run-outs where the batsman just keeps running all the way back to the pavilion are the best run-outs.

1405 BST: England will probably be slightly the happier given where Australia were heading at the 20-over mark, but there will be some nerves around in this chase. They came up short chasing against Pakistan – admittedly chasing 350 rather than 286 – and Sri Lanka. On the flipside, they would have cruised past 300 against West Indies had they needed to. We shall see. The odds say England, I think I’d still just about rather have these runs on the board. Not the first time Australia’s batting has fizzled out in this tournament, though. Will today be the day it costs them?

1405 BST: Australia 285/7 (50 overs)
Carey gets Stokes away for a pair of offside boundaries in the final over and he’s lifted them further than they might have with 38 off 27 but still way short of where they should have been.

1400 BST: Australia 274/7 (49 overs)
Carey giving Australia a decent finish anyway, a couple of fours through cover and dabbed to third-man off Archer’s final over. Tougher day at the office for Archer today, but he’s still bowled admirably despite not quite looking fully fit. Talking of gun bowlers not looking quite fully fit, Starc is feeling the back of his knee after a quick single. Anything that impacts his ability to bowl certainly would tilt the balance of the run-chase.

1355 BST: Australia 263/7 (48 overs)
This is a sensational turnaround from England, you have to say. The bowlers – generally – always kept their heads, with the fielding the discipline that really showed the cracks during Australia’s ominous start. Getting rewards now, and there are plenty more twists and turns to come in the run-chase for sure.

WICKET! Pat Cummins c Buttler b Woakes 1 (4b, SR: 25.00)
The wickets continue to fall. Genuine one this for Woakes, Cummings pushing at one outside off and edging through low to Buttler.

1349 BST: Australia 259/6 (47 overs)
Carey gets a four away through point to start Wood’s over, but it’s another good one for England overall with just six coming from it. Pat Cummins off the mark and keeping the strike with a single from his third ball.

1345 BST: Australia 253/6 (46 overs)
Whatever else happens and whatever they end up, Australia have surely butchered a chance to go way past 300 here. They looked nailed on for something 330-350ish for the first half of this.

WICKET! Steve Smith c Archer b Woakes 38 (34b, 5×4, SR: 111.8)
Just not happening for Australia at the back end of this innings. Smith tries to go big over midwicket, but skews it straighter and picks out Archer at long-on. The big question now is whether the first 20 or last 30 overs of this innings give a more truthful reflection of these conditions. Still think England won’t like the answer. That’s another 10 grand for the charity, though, so that’s a nice thing to happen isn’t it?

1337 BST: Australia 248/5 (45 overs)
Outrageous “deserved a hundred” areas from Michael Clarke when discussing Aaron Finch’s innings on commentary just now, to my mind the first ever recorded use of the phrase about a player who actually did score a hundred.

1333 BST: Australia 242/5 (44 overs)
Woakes almost sneaks a tidy over in but drags the last ball down to be met by a perfectly placed pull shot from Smith that gives the boundary rider no chance. Timing and placement were immaculate. He’s 36 off 29, and England will be delighted he didn’t come in at three.

1329 BST: Australia 233/5 (43 overs)
This is a far better second spell from Wood having changed ends. Pace is up, accuracy is better. England have had a very good 45 minutes having looked lost and confused for much of this innings.

1324 BST: Australia 228/5 (42 overs)
Rashid finishes his spell wicketless but having applied a much-needed brake to an innings that threatened to careen completely out of control for England.

WICKET! Marcus Stoinis run out (Bairstow/Rashid/Buttler) 8 (15b, 1×4, SR: 53.33)
Gift of a wicket for England. Smith drives Rashid out to deep cover and takes a single. Stoinis wanted to come back for the second but Smith doesn’t move. Stoinis just keeps running all the way back to the pavilion.

1320 BST: Australia 222/4 (41 overs)
Stoinis crunches a drive through cover as Wood overpitches. Gets his innings under way after a struggle against Rashid in the previous over. Thick outside edge then gets him a single.

1316 BST: Australia 215/4 (40 overs)
Still feels to me like Australia have got an awful lot of runs in these conditions here, but there’s also no doubt England have kept themselves in a match that has felt like it’s been sliding away from them since the very first over. England are actually favourites again now, which feels like an over-reaction to me but I am one of life’s great pessimists. I was very confident about England chasing Sri Lanka’s total the other day and I shan’t be making that mistake again.

1312 BST: Australia 213/4 (39 overs)
Great over from Wood, who had been expensive in his first four. But after a single and that huge wicket of Maxwell it’s four dots to Stoinis, including a couple past the outside edge.

1309 BST: Another dangerman to the middle, though, as Marcus Stoinis joins Smith.

WICKET! Glenn Maxwell c Buttler b Wood 12 (8b, 1×4, 1×6, SR: 150.00)
Big moment. Maxwell, having smashed those boundaries off Archer, attempts something delicate off Wood and edges through to Buttler. He’s furious with himself. England might have just saved themselves 40 or 50 runs if they can get their heads on for the closing overs here.

1305 BST: Australia 212/3 (38 overs)
Here we go! Maxwell’s off, smashing a length ball 97m over long-on for six and then heaving a slightly shorter ball for a one-bounce four over midwicket. Archer nowhere near his best today after that injury scare. You do wonder whether he’d have played had England not got themselves in this unnecessary tangle to qualify.

1301 BST: Australia 200/3 (37 overs)
Quality from Smith here, successive boundaries off Wood to end the over and bring up the 200. The first is driven imperiously through mid-on, the second glided fine of Archer at third-man. Both are compelling reasons why he should bat ahead of Khawaja.

1257 BST: Australia 190/3 (36 overs)
Poor ball from Archer straight after the wicket, down the legside and flicked away for four by Smith. Does well when he gets Maxwell on strike for the first time, though, getting him jumping with a good short ball.

WICKET! Aaron Finch c Woakes b Archer 100 (116b, 11×4, 2×6, SR: 86.20)
But he’s gone to the very next ball! Top-edged hook off Archer, and Woakes – the fielder who allowed that second run the ball before – makes no mistake with the catch. Huge wicket for England – Finch could have caused utter carnage in the closing overs here.

1254 BST: Aaron Finch 100* (115b, 11×4, 2×6, SR: 86.96)
A misfield at long-leg allows Finch to get back for a second run to complete his hundred. Superb innings from Finch, but fitting in so many ways that he gets to the landmark from yet another English error.

1250 BST: Australia 183/2 (35 overs)
Got a bit distracted by the cricketarist and his crimes, but this is actually a very decent spell from Stokes. He’s got 1/18 from five overs and England have at least delayed the Aussie charge here. Clearly, it’s going to be Glenn Maxwell in next with full licence, so that’s sure to be a lot of fun. Still think that, as it was on Sunday, 300 is a winning score in these conditions and with the pressure England will be under. Anyway, that’s drinks.

1245 BST: Australia 178/2 (34 overs)
Archer back into the attack, and still going past Finch’s outside edge even as the Australia captain moves within four of a century.

1239 BST: Australia 175/2 (33 overs)
Fresh round of boos as the ‘cricketarist’ finally shuts his noise. The booing is far more pleasant. Maybe they were actually booing the guitar fella? Understandable if so.

WICKET! Usman Khawaja b Stokes 23 (29b, 1×4, SR: 79.3)
Stokes gets one to shape back into Khawaja and make a mess of middle and off stumps. England needed that, but also sort of maybe didn’t in a way. In comes Smith, the chorus of boos largely drowned out by the man playing the weird cricket bat guitar that somebody thought was a good idea. Might help if they get someone in who can actually play the guitar to be fair.

1236 BST: Australia 173/1 (32 overs)
Fifty partnership comes up in just 55 balls. Finch into the 90s with a glorious drive off Rashid, placed smartly to beat the fielder in the ring and the man on the fence.

1229 BST: Australia 162/1 (30 overs)
Australia setting themselves up for a real onslaught in the closing overs here. Khawaja has eased to 19 off 24, that stumping chance off Rashid the only tricky moment in his innings.

1226 BST: Australia 158/1 (29 overs)
Stokes jags one past Finch’s outside edge. Outrageous delivery really, and we’re at least 15 overs past the point where England want to see that sort of thing going on.

1221 BST: Australia 155/1 (28 overs)
Oh, that’s a bad miss. Beautiful googly from Rashid does Khawaja all ends up, and he overbalances as he gropes forlornly forward at where he thought the ball might be. Buttler can’t gather, though, and a routine stumping chance goes begging. Not for the first time this summer, it must be said. Obviously the next ball goes for four because cricket hates you and everything you care about.

1217 BST: Australia 148/1 (27 overs)
Couple of sloppy misfields from England in the last couple of overs. If fielding is a window on a team’s soul, then England are in really big trouble. Genuine edge from Finch off Moeen, but of course there’s no slip there now and that brings four more.

1213 BST: Australia 138/1 (25 overs)
Couple of dot balls from Moeen brings the big shot out of Finch, but he nails it over long-on for his second six. Risk, but a worthwhile one. He’d have got slaughtered had he holed out there, but that six takes the pressure of both Finch and the new batsman Khawaja.

1208 BST: Australia 125/1 (23 overs)
Usman Khawaja in at three for Australia. No sleight on Khawaja, who is a fine player, but I don’t think England will mind seeing him at three after this start for Australia. One-day cricket is about maximising resources, and you’d surely want Steve Smith facing more balls than Khawaja because he is a better cricketer.

WICKET! David Warner c Root b Moeen Ali 53 (60b, 6×4, SR: 86.88)
A wicket! For England! £10k for charity! How desperately they needed that, especially in an over where Finch had already launched a huge six over midwicket. Not quite sure what happened here – bit of extra bounce maybe? – but Warner’s made a complete mess of what looked a straightforward cut shot and spooned it to point. Root just about clings on to an absolute sitter. Almost popped out of his hand – that really would have put the seal on England’s morning.

1203 BST: Australia 114/0 (22 overs)
That’s a better over from Rashid. Australia are now 8/13, though, for those of you who missed out when we mentioned that 6/5 after the toss and evens at 50/0 both looked good bets…

1159 BST: Australia 112/0 (21 overs)
There’s an Ashes in a month. Christ.

1156 BST: Australia 110/0 (20 overs)

1155 BST: David Warner 50* (52b, 6×4, SR: 96.15)
This is all fine.

1152 BST: Aaron FInch 50* (61b, 9×4, SR: 81.97)
Slightly unconvincing stroke to get there, miscuing Moeen over midwicket for a couple, but a huge innings for Finch.

1151 BST: Australia 100/0 (18 overs)
Spin at both ends for England now in these overwhelmingly seam-friendly conditions. Rashid drags one down to Warner, who smashes him through square-leg and beats the dive of Bairstow on the boundary. Rashid flights one up outside off stump and gets driven wide of mid-off for four more. That’s just brilliant bating, and Australia have 100 on the board. Just going to leave this here…

1147 BST: Australia 90/0 (17 overs)
Spin now for England. Eoin Morgan decides Australia’s start isn’t quite good enough so gives them another couple by chucking a routine throw past Buttler on the half-volley.

1140 BST: Australia 83/0 (16 overs)
Finch showing his full range now with the mishit that lands short of a fielder. This is a masterclass. Either side of that there are boundaries murdered through midwicket and extra-cover. DOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMEEEEEEED. That’s drinks. Make England’s a large one.

1135 BST: Australia 75/0 (15 overs)
Tidy enough start from Ben Stokes – my word the Plunkett omission looks even more horrific now – but in these conditions a five-an-over start with all 10 wickets in hand means England already have a mountain to climb. It’s a very big and very early call – both today and for the tournament – but England failing to reach the semi-finals here would top any other banter they’ve ever produced at a World Cup. And that is putting it top of an illustrious list.

1130 BST: Australia 71/0 (14 overs)
OMINOUS SIGNS for England now. These two on the charge against Wood now, Warner pulling over mid-on for four before collecting three to the longest boundary on the ground through midwicket. A clip off the toes brings four more for Finch.

1125 BST: Australia 59/0 (13 overs)
Finch gets two drives down the ground for four, either side of being beaten on both inside and outside edges. Morgan rightly keeping Woakes on here, but England are in trouble.

1120 BST: Australia 50/0 (12 overs)
Mark Wood into the attack in place of Archer. Immediately whacks Finch on the hip. Some discomfort for the Australia captain – looks like that’s missed all the padding. Finch comes up with a much better option to a similar delivery, getting his bat in the way and tickling it away fine for four. A leg-bye brings up Australia’s 50 – sixth time in seven games this pair have got Australia to that milestone – before a big swing and a miss from Warner to end the over. You can still get evens about an Australia win here with Paddy Power, and honestly that looks a price if you’re the sort of person who likes even-money shots. This is a dream start for Australia.

1115 BST: Australia 45/0 (11 overs)
Woakes continues into a sixth over. I’d be tempted to give him a 10-over spell here. He’s still causing both batsmen problems, an lbw shout against Finch in this over rightly not reviewed having struck the batsman outside the line.

1111 BST: Australia 44/0 (10 overs)
Short and wide from Archer, who doesn’t look fully fit here and I reckon would not have been risked had England not messed things up against Sri Lanka. Warner cracks it through cover-point for four.

1107 BST: Australia 36/0 (9 overs)
Another over of pure frustration for Woakes and England. Warner beaten on the outside edge, then gets an inside edge onto his thigh that goes over the bails and dribbles through to Buttler. Finch leaves a huge nip-backer and his judgement is spot on. Now officially a Good Start For Australia.

1103 BST: Australia 35/0 (8 overs)
Finch beaten on the inside edge again, but again if you’re being hypercritical it’s a touch too short as it goes over the stumps. England have done little wrong, and bowling first was clearly the right call based on what we’ve seen, but the advantage of that toss win has now gone with Australia’s openers still together.

1059 BST: Australia 32/0 (7 overs)
Fair to say things are going Australia’s way here. Huge lbw appeal against Finch turned down. England review, but it’s only umpire’s call on height so Finch survives. Warner then smacks one down the ground for four in glorious style before being beaten on the inside edge by a nip-backer. Another huge appeal for caught behind, but it definitely flicked the pad and missed the bat. Morgan right not to review on this occasion, the umpire’s call for the previous shout meant the review was retained.

1054 BST: Australia 26/0 (6 overs)
Drop! That’s the length! Fuller from Archer, Finch goes for the big drive and sends it hard and high to backward point where a flying James Vince gets fingertips to it but can only tip it over the bar. Technically a drop, but he’s saved two runs there really. Superb effort.

1050 BST: Australia 23/0 (5 overs)
England have been just a touch too short this morning. One of those rare days when – for now at least – the correct length is the normally forbidden Slot. Got to find the edge rather than beat it. And the actual short ball does nothing, as Finch – like Warner before him – shows by whacking one through midwicket this time for four.

1045 BST: Australia 18/0 (4 overs)
Another thick edge from Finch. Perfectly safe this time, flying over the head of where gully would have been were there a gully. So doubly safe, in a way. Over the head of a non-existent fielder. Fine margins. First short ball of the day from Archer, and Warner gets hold of it through square-leg for four. First shot of authority from him. It’s a top-of-off morning rather than top-of-head based on these first four overs.

1041 BST: Australia 13/0 (3 overs)
Warner all over the place in a manner that leaves you absolutely 100 per cent certain that he will be walking off in a couple of hours with 180 to his name. Beaten on the outside edge, then bounces one to the slips having decided too late to try and let it go. And then the last ball of another fine Woakes over screws off a thick outside edge over point for the first two of those 180 inevitable runs.

1037 BST: Australia 11/0 (2 overs)
Archer settles on a line and length after that loosener. None of the movement Woakes found, though.

1034 BST: Australia 11/0 (1.1 overs)
Archer came into the game under an injury cloud, and his first ball is a gentle throwdown of a half-volley. Far safer drive for Finch here, and he creams it to the cover fence.

1033 BST: Australia 7/0 (1 over)
It starts. Good from Chris Woakes, bit of movement away and some pace and carry too. Finch drives without due care and attention, but his thick outside edge clears Root at second slip and bounces away for four. Last ball of a cracking over that still brings seven runs nips back at Warner, who lets it go perilously close to his off stump. Plenty in it for Woakes, though. These first five or six overs are so important here.

1029 BST: Finch and Warner’s opening partnerships at this World Cup: 96, 15, 61, 146, 80, 121. Woakes has the first new ball…

1028 BST: Michael Clarke has declared it a good toss to lose before a ball has been bowled. A new record, surely.

1027 BST: The anthems – comfortably the worst two of the tournament – are out of the way. Now it’s time for the cricket. England will need early wickets. Do it for Workaid, lads…

1024 BST: Getting a bit brighter as the teams come out for the anthems. We’re approximately 27 minutes away from the “good toss to lose” revisionism.

1021 BST: Historically, winning the toss means naff all at Lord’s – toss winners have a 27-32 record in ODIs here. But those winning the toss and fielding fare slightly better with 20 wins and 20 defeats. Fifty-fifty feels very apt here today. Anyway, those numbers and more can be found in our Lord’s Pitch Report.

1017 BST: Final call for our big match preview here. Still fancy an Australia win at a slightly bigger price post-toss; there’s just so much more pressure on England here, and the pitch is likely to be tricky. Essentially, the precise combination of conditions under which this (still excellent) England side is most likely to come unstuck. Also, for our other tip, the conditions under which Ben Stokes is most likely to thrive…

1013 BST: Nine wickets at 18s at Lord’s since the last World Cup for Plunkett…

1009 BST: This is a far bigger game for England than it is for Australia, and also a bigger toss. England are by no means certain to chase whatever Australia put on the board here, but have to feel more confident about doing that than getting a decent start with the bat in these conditions against Starc and Cummins with Vince and a weirdly out-of-form Bairstow at the top of the order.

1008 BST: Teams:

1006 BST: England are unchanged. Frankly astonished that Plunkett isn’t playing. In these conditions, with a short boundary, two spinners plus Joe Root seems a very odd choice given Plunkett’s fantastic record since the last World Cup. Australia bring in Nathan Lyon and Jason Behrendorff. Australia have won five games out of six at this World Cup, and this is the first time they’ve actually picked the right team.

1001 BST: Eoin Morgan wins the toss under cloudy skies and chooses to bowl first. No surprises there. Aaron Finch would have bowled first as well but isn’t that bothered. He’s as unbothered as Smith and Warner are about the booing, which Finch reiterates for the millionth time this week they will not be at all.

0958 BST: Ian Ward has said “massive toss” at least 17 times in the last five minutes. He’s not wrong.

0956 BST: FYI, Lord’s is the worst home venue for Eoin Morgan’s New England. Great.

0955 BST: Got to hand it to both these teams, actually. For England to spend the last four years being the best team in the world and Australia the last couple being absolutely dreadful but to then both revert so spectacularly to type on the biggest stage deserves huge credit. Proven performers on the biggest stage.

0950 BST: Whatever else happens, this is already the third consecutive men’s World Cup group stage that has been saved from itself by England.

This group stage looked doomed before England started bumbling around Leeds the other day, while 2015 was very much the crowd-pleasing big hit when they failed to qualify from a tournament that, like 2011, had been specifically designed to provide a procession for the ‘Big Eight’ until the quarter-finals.

But 2011 remains England’s greatest effort. There were literally six decent games in the entire interminable group stage of that tournament: England’s. Conceding almost 300 to the Dutch, tying a game they should have lost and then should have won and then should have lost again against all-conquering India, losing to Ireland and Bangladesh of course, somehow defending 170 against South Africa – a great meeting of World Cup chuckleclowns – and then defending 240 to beat West Indies and scramble into the last eight. Where they promptly got splatted by 10 wickets against Sri Lanka.

Nobody does more to make World Cups good than England. Fact.

0943 BST: SHORT BOUNDARY KLAXON!

0937 BST: While obviously there is the side-issue of a crucial World Cup match going on here, the main event is whether Warner and Smith will get massively booed even here at Lord’s where people are just altogether less ghastly than at those frightful northern grounds.

Paddy Power have come up with their own scheme for the day as England and Australia meet for the first time (officially) since sandpapergate. If Warner and/or Smith get ‘caught out’ today (geddit?) the bookmaker will donate £10,000 to a carpentry charity. Because of the sandpaper. Which is used in carpentry.

Workaid is the charity, and they’re a great bunch of lads. They use tools the right way – sending sandpaper and other craft equipment to third world countries, helping over 9000 people so far.

Paddy Power said: “Seeing Dave Warner and Steve Smith perform so well in this tournament left a sour taste in our mouths. As England are set to face Australia in their first competitive meet up since the cheating scandal, we felt it was time for a bit of justice.

“By donating £10,000 to Workaid every time the pair are ‘caught out’ by their English opponents, we are allowing the pair to reposition themselves as role models, directly funding the correct use of sandpaper. Before they were using tools to rub balls, now they’re going to fund tools to build walls.”

0920 BST: These would be very correct decisions from both sides.

The only thing more baffling than Australia’s refusal to pick their best spinner is England’s refusal to acknowledge Plunkett’s rightful and obvious place in their best XI. England are three from three with Plunkett in the side and one from three without him in this tournament. Simplistic and reductive, sure, but I’ve never let that stop me before and it’s not entirely without basis. All the focus was on England’s batting against Sri Lanka, and understandably so, but England did rather let Sri Lanka’s innings drift towards something that turned out to be defendable. Plunkett’s inevitable pair of mid-innings wickets would have put a stop to that.

0913 BST: Well that was a rollercoaster five minutes. England at the World Cup, there is nothing like it. Apart from possibly South Africa at the World Cup.

0912 BST: IN-GER-LUND, IN-GER-LUND, IN-GER-LUND.

0910 BST: Hahahahaha, oh England. Still, sure he’ll be fit for the final…

0900 BST: Well here we go. World Cup. England. Australia. Lord’s. And – miraculously and against all odds – it actually matters. Just think, if England had managed to beat either a terrible Pakistan side or a worse Sri Lanka one, we’d be left with nothing here but the fact it’s England v Australia and of course all the rivalry means there’s no such thing as a meaningless game between these two and it’s at Lord’s so obviously that makes it extra special and there’s always a bit of extra spice when these two meet and of course it’s a big game. We’d have said all that, of course we would, but we’d have only been fooling ourselves. We’d have had to pretend to care about people booing or not booing David Warner and Steve Smith. Nightmare.

Not now, though. Now it’s really actually important to the tournament. If Australia win, not only do they go top and bag a semi-final place, they put England in deep brown sticky stuff. If England win, well, that was a fun few days of not being absolutely 100% sure who the final four would be. At least it will have killed a bit of time before the semi-finals.

Been raining its arse off overnight in That London, but apparently it’s dry now so hopefully get a prompt start. Might be a bit tricky with the bat early doors. Decision to make there for whoever wins the toss, especially if it’s Eoin Morgan. England have generally been far better when batting first in this tournament, but it doesn’t feel like a bat-first day or look like a bat-first pitch.

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