Behrendorff fires Australia into semi-finals

Jason Behrendorff picks his fifth wicket of the day as he gets rid of Jofra Archer for 1. Australia one wicket away from securing a place in the semis.

Earlier, Eoin Morgan won the toss and asked Australia to bat first.

Finch and Warner survived the early burst and put together a solid foundation. Aaron Finch cruised to a century, but then England bounced back.

Finch departed and thus started the procession. Wickets kept tumbling, Australia never found the momentum they needed to accelerate after the bumper opening stand. Alex Carey scored 38 off 27 balls to lift them to 285.

Jason Behrendorff struck with just the second ball of England’s reply, an inswinger bowling struggling opener James Vince for a duck. Fellow left-arm quick Mitchell Starc then took two wickets for five runs in nine balls.

Test skipper Joe Root was plumb lbw to an inswinger for eight before England captain Eoin Morgan (four) fell into a hooking trap when a top-edge was held safely by Pat Cummins at fine leg. Victory over their arch-rivals would see Australia, who have lost 10 of their past 11 one-day internationals against England, into the semi-finals.

And while a third defeat in the group stage would not spell the end of England’s hopes of reaching the last four from the 10-team round-robin stage, it would set alarm bells ringing. Earlier, Australia captain Aaron Finch made exactly 100 before getting out next ball in a total of 285-7.

Finch, dropped on 15, and fellow opener David Warner (53) came through some testing early overs to share a stand of 123 as too many of England’s pacemen, with the exception of Chris Woakes, dropped short.