Australia knock defending champions England out of World Cup with 33-run win

AHMEDABAD, Nov 4:

Adam Zampa produced three timely strikes in the middle overs as Australia knocked out defending champions England out of the ODI World Cup with a 33-run win here on Saturday, their fifth consecutive victory.
Australian batters were guilty of not converting starts but still managed to post 286 against arch-rivals England. Marnus Labuschagne (71 off 83) recorded his highest score of the tournament.
England, whose formidable batting line-up has massively underperformed in their title defence, had a good opportunity to pick up a win after four consecutive losses.
Amid heavy dew, Ben Stokes (64 off 90) kept the chase alive while batting alongside Dawid Malan (50 off 64 ) and Moeen Ali (42 off 43) before Zampa landed the killer blows to stop England at 253 in 48.1 overs.
Chris Woakes (32 off 33) tried his best towards the end but it wasn’t enough.
Zampa first had out-of-form England skipper Jos Buttler (1) caught in the deep before getting rid of Stokes in a soft dismissal.
It was a short ball on the leg side and Stokes ended up offering a simple catch to Stoinis at short-fine leg.
It was all over for England when Moeen’s slog sweep off Zampa arrived straight into the hands of David Warner at deep mid-wicket.
England batters including Stokes, Moeen and Dawid Malan did exhibit the strokeplay they are known for but could not stay long enough to see their team through.
Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc got the ball to swing in the powerplay. He got lucky in the first ball of the England innings as Jonny Bairstow got a faint edge to one swinging down the leg-side.
Joe Root was set up by Starc with a series of inswingers before he pushed one wide and the England number three got the outside edge.
Australia’s sharp fielding also contributed to their fifth win in a row. (PTI)