It may not have been the Ashes, but England have tipped defending champions Australia out of the Twenty20 World Cup by beating Sri Lanka at the SCG on Saturday night.
While it will never wash away the humilation of last summer’s 4-0 Ashes drubbing, England are eyeing a rare piece of white ball silverware after playing their way into the semi-finals with a stuttering four-wicket victory in front of 24,250 fans. There were two balls to spare.
Ben Stokes celebrates with Chris Woakes after hitting the winning runs against Sri Lanka.Credit:Getty
Australia were pushed down to third place in Group 1 on run rate, with England and New Zealand going through to the play-offs.
If South Africa beat the Netherlands and India defeat Zimbabwe on Sunday, as expected, then New Zealand with meet South Africa in the first semi-final at the SCG on Wednesday and India will play England in Adelaide on Thursday. The winners will go through to the final at the MCG next Sunday.
Sri Lanka made a flying start thanks to Pathum Nissanka’s 67 from 45 balls, which included five sixes, before England did well to contain the score to 8-141. Wrist spinner Adil Rashid conceded just 16 runs from his four overs and claimed the important wicket of Nissanka.
Opening batsmen Alex Hales, a Sydney Thunder Big Bash favourite, scored 47 from 30 balls to monster the chase, then Ben Stokes guided England to a scrambled victory with an unbeaten 42 from 36 balls.
England were hindered when their highest-ranked T20 batsman, Dawid Malan, was forced from the field with a groin injury and did not bat.
Australia’s demise before the play-offs continued the dark history of teams failing to defend World Cups on home soil. No team has ever done it.
Having come from the clouds to win the 50-over World Cup in India during 1987, Australia failed to make the semi-finals as hosts in 1992. Thirty years on, they have failed again after winning their inaugural T20 title in Dubai last year.
Regardless of Saturday night’s result, there was little to recommend Australia as a semi-finalist.
While the figures are somewhat distorted because qualifiers played extra matches, Australia’s leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 126 runs in four games, was Marcus Stoinis in 16th place on the tournament table.
The bowling returns were even more modest, with Adam Zampa claiming five wickets in three games to be listed in 32nd place. Josh Hazlewood was below him with five wickets in four games.
Stuttering victories over qualifiers Sri Lanka and Ireland and second tier nation Afghanistan are hardly the foundation for a World Cup defence, particularly when it was undermined on opening night by a dreadful loss to New Zealand.
It’s a shame the England-Australia game was washed out in a tournament hindered by bad weather, but on lead-up form the visitors were clear favourites.
Not that England made their journey to the semi-finals particularly easy, losing to Ireland along the way in a rain-reduced match England were destined to win.
But England also managed to beat New Zealand convincingly, avoiding the ambush that Australia suffered which so unsettled their campaign.
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