ICC World Cup 2019: 2nd Semifinal, England vs Australia – Toss Report

Arch-rivals England and Australia will go up against each other in the second semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2019 on July 11 (Thursday) at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The hosts will look to settle the scores after their loss in the league stages.

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England-Australia clash for a final berth

England have won their last two matches convincingly against India and New Zealand and are confident before their semifinal match. The return of Jason Roy at the top of England’s batting has bolstered their combination once again. Jonny Bairstow’s brilliant run and Ben Stokes’ form with the bat will keep the top-ranked ODI team in high stead as they look for revenge in the semifinal. The onus, however, will be on the bowlers once again to produce a match-winning effort to rout Australia out of the tournament.

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On the other hand, Australia’s defeat against South Africa in the last group match has forced Australia to look at potential changes. Peter Handscomb, who came into the side as a replacement for the injured Shaun Marsh will make his World Cup debut. They will be mulling over the injury of Marcus Stoinis who suffered the side strain in the last game. But the all-rounder returned to training, which is a positive sign for the five-times world champions. Australia’s dominating performance at Lord’s, where they beat England by 64 runs in the group stages is still fresh in everyone’s minds, and they will look to repeat the same at Edgbaston to keep their hopes alive for the sixth World Cup trophy.

Date and Venue: England vs Australia, July 11 (Thursday), 3:00 PM IST, at Edgbaston in Birmingham

Toss Report

Australia skipper Aaron Finch has won the toss and elected to bat first against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Here is what the captain’s said,

Aaron Finch

We are going to have a bat. Don’t think it will change too much. Will try to put up a big score. Just one, Peter Handscomb will come in for Usman Khawaja.

Eoin Morgan

Exact same. The trend of the tournament has been to bat first. Although Edgbaston has been a magnificent ground. The last time we played here against India, we saw a high scores of 340 and them almost chasing it down. Not really bothered as before the World Cup we preferred to chase. I think whoever plays the best cricket will go through. We have gone from strength to strength. We are going with the same team.

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Playing XI

England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Steven Smith, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon