Australia win toss, bat against England in World Cup semi-final

Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bat against England in the 2n  World Cup semi-final at Birmingham on Thursday.

England are playing their sixth semi-final, losing in 1975 and 1983 when they hosted the tournament. England reached the final in 1979 when they also hosted 1987 and 1992, losing to West Indies, Australia and Pakistan, respectively.

But England fans and players expect much more this time round from the top-ranked one-day outfit which was rebuilt in exhilarating style after a humiliating group-stage exit at the 2015 tournament.

Root’s team-mate, Liam Plunkett, missed England’s three league-stage defeats in 2019 but said losing had helped the team.

England and Australia have a longstanding rivalry in all sports, especially cricket, with usually good-natured teasing on both sides.

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Mark Wood

Australia: 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 David Warner, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Peter Handscomb, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jason Behrendorff

Source: dailysun