Australia and England will take on each other on Thursday, eyeing to become the second finalist of the tournament. Defending Champions, Australia finished the league stage at the second spot while the host, England ended the league stage at third spot with six wins.
Australian team‘s performance in the knockout stages has been brilliant while the Englishmen made it to the World Cup semi-final after a long gap of 27 years.
Match Details
Total Matches played: 62
Matches won batting first: 26
Matches won bowling second: 29
Average 1st innings score: 221 runs
Average 2nd innings score: 185 runs
Pitch Reports
In the previous games played here, the pitch has offered a good advantage to spinners in the second half of the match. Apart from this, some high scored have been posted at this venue, and it looks like this will be another high scoring clash. Teams are likely to bat first in the match and put scoreboard pressure on the other team.
Weather Conditions
The weather forecast for the second semi-final is not pleasant as rain is expected to come in this match also. With the possibility of 74 percent of cloud cover, the weather is expected to be overcast. The temperature will be around 21 degrees Celsius with humidity in the mid-70s.
Team Preview
Australia
Apart from a brilliant performance by the Australians in the league stage, injuries have been a major concern for the Kangaroos. Now Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis have joined the injury list along with Shaun Marsh. The responsibility will be on the likes of Aaron Finch, David Warner, and Steve Smith.
News
Australian coach Justin Langer revealed that Peter Handscomb would be picked in the playing XI to face England in the semi-finals. Marcus Stoinis didn’t complete his ten overs against South Africa following injury, but most probably he will play in the match.
Probable Playing XI: Aaron Finch(C), Alex Carey(wk), David Warner, Peter Handscomb, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon
England
England team entered the tournament with favorites tag. Although, as the tournament progressed Eoin Morgan led side fumbled and lost the momentum at the end, managed to complete the league stage among top four. To be on interesting note, no England team have ever lifted the World Cup trophy.
News
No injury concerns are revolving around the England team. Apart from this, England has showcased some exceptional performances in the final two league stage match to make it to the semis. As far as team combination for this must-win the game is considered, England might not do any alterations in the playing XI that played against New Zealand.
Probable Playing XI: Eoin Morgan(C), Jos Buttler(wk), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood
Key battles within the game
Mitchell Starc vs. Jonny Bairstow
Mark Wood vs. David Warner
Head to Head in World Cup
Total Matches: 8
Australia win: 6
England win: 2
The Aussies lost their last league stage match against South Africa while the hosts, England team, has won their previous two league stage games against India and New Zealand to qualify for knockouts. Let’s see what happens in this match.
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