CWC2023: Labuschagne, Zampa’s cameo take Australia to 286 all out against England

Australian batters were guilty of not converting starts but still managed to post 286 against arch-rivals England in the World Cup here on Saturday.

Marnus Labuschange (71 off 83), Steve Smith (44 off 52), Cameron Green (47 off 52) and Marcus Stoinis (35 off 32) were among the batters who failed to cash in on their starts, hurting the team’s cause in the process.

Leggie Adil Rashid (2/38) was frugal as usual while pacer Mark Wood (2/70) was back to his menacing ways, using the short ball to hurry the opposition batters, especially Green.

Chris Woakes (4/54) delivered with the new ball for the second game in a row, removing the dangerous opening duo of David Warner (15) and Travid Head (11). He also struck twice in the death overs.

Defending champions England, who are having a tournament to forget, were able to get the early wickets after putting Australia in to bat.

Head handed a regulation catch to Joe Root at first slip off an angled away ball from Woakes.

Three overs later, Warner mistimed a pull to give Woakes his second wicket, leaving Australia at 38 for two in the sixth over.

Smith and Labuschagne, who both have not had the best of times in the tournament, then shared a 75-run stand off 96 balls. It was hard work in the middle for the seasoned batters who found the boundaries hard to come by.

Following Smith’s fall, Josh Inglis (3) tried to up the scoring rate but fell while attempting a reverse sweep off Rashid.

Green, who looked uncomfortable against the short-pitched stuff from Wood, did hit some crisp boundaries off the other bowlers. His cover drive off Woakes was the highlight of his knock. He saw his leg stump uprooted after missing a slog sweep off left-arm pacer David Willey.

Stoinis then got into the action depositing Rashid and Liam Livingstone into the stands over deep mid-wicket before getting caught in the same spot off a short ball from the latter.

It seemed Australia would not able to use their full quota of overs but Adam Zampa’s timely cameo of 29 from 19 balls took the team close to 300.

Scoreboard

Australia innings: Travis Head c Root b Woakes 11 David Warner c Willey b Woakes 15 Steven Smith c Ali b Rashid 44 Marnus Labuschagne lbw b Wood 71 Josh Inglis c Ali b Rashid 3 Cameron Green b Willey 47 Marcus Stoinis c Bairstow b Livingstone 35 Pat Cummins (c) c Malan b Wood 10 Mitchell Starc c Ali b Woakes 10 Adam Zampa c Buttler b Woakes 29 Josh Hazlewood not out 1

Extras: (lb 6, w 4) 10

Total: (All out in 49.3 overs) 286

Fall of wickets: 11-1, 38-2, 113-3, 117-4, 178-5, 223-6, 241-7, 247-8, 285-9, 286-10.

Bowling: David Willey 10-1-48-1, Chris Woakes 9.3-0-54-4, Mark Wood 10-0-70-2, Liam Livingstone 6-0-42-1, Moeen Ali 4-0-28-0, Adil Rashid 10-0-38-2.