Australia’s hastily assembled chimera leaves England vulnerable to exit

Seven months on from shambles, Aaron Finch’s side have enough class to win matches they shouldn’t at the World Cup
Jason Behrendorff is congratulated on his way to a five-wicket haul against England at Lord’s.
Jason Behrendorff is congratulated on his way to a five-wicket haul against England at Lord’s. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

As an Australian in London, it’s hard to know what to make of England’s World Cup implosion at Lord’s. It was a loss as comprehensive as any; a mid‑range run chase that England never looked like they were in. The side that biffs 350s and 400s with the smart casual air of the winter’s first scarf suddenly vanished, replaced by something anxious and hesitant. Fast bowlers in gold bossed the contest.

I don’t write any of this as triumphalism. It’s more bewilderment. This is the England team that spent four years in planning. They channelled ritual humiliation into anger, then resolve. They planned and strategised, refined and honed, repeated skills that became second nature. Second nature became a force of nature, sweeping all before them. They bodied Australia on tour, bloodied them at home, and came into this tournament as the perfectly primed machine.

Australia, meanwhile, yawned and rolled over in bed, tumbled the nearest few friends into the back of the car, rocked up the World Cup bleary-eyed and two hours late and proceeded to knock off the home team while still holding an Irish coffee.

Seven months ago this Australia team were a shambles. Five months ago they were entirely rebuilt. Three months ago they got a few wins against some B teams doing their own pre-tournament experiments. One month ago they jettisoned some of the best performers from that recent period to accommodate two oxidised champions returning from exile and a third from medical leave.

This is the team that overcame Eoin Morgan’s vibe of “While you were partying, I studied the blade”. That team that have left England vulnerable to missing out on the semi-finals altogether, after a previous couple of defeats. But in truth those whom England see as barbarians are well past the gates. The barbarians have a mortgage on Lord’s, where they lose a handful of times per century. And if England do get it together, guess where the World Cup final will be held? It’s almost enough to make a country wish it didn’t have an iconic venue.

None of which could have made Australia’s onward march any more predictable, but its latest chapter in hindsight comes down to a simple comparison. In the opening 11 overs, England’s bowlers looked a menace, moved the ball drastically, and Australia emerged with 10 wickets in hand and 45 runs on the board. In six overs Australia’s bowlers moved it drastically, looked a menace, and had England 26 for three.

England’s bowling looked theatrically good but the lengths were short enough that the ball missed edges and bounced over stumps. When Chris Woakes hit the pad his appeal and his review were refused for height. When Mitchell Starc hit the pad, he would have taken Joe Root’s middle stump halfway up. Jason Behrendorff’s ball to James Vince did not need the subjunctive, because it did the same job in past perfect.

As a team, Australia still look like a hastily assembled chimera with a few zoological contradictions. The batting again didn’t flow, the innings failing to reach expected heights from a big foundation. But on a wicket where timing was never easy, you didn’t get the sense that the Australians minded. If their bowlers fire, the quality is enough to win matches they should not.

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A semi-final is now a lock, and that means two good games are worth a World Cup. If Australia can push on and win the whole thing, from where they were a few short months ago, it will be wryly funny. Whenever other teams have got things wrong, they have lost. All but once, Australia have found a way.

Perhaps this is the key: that Australia rolled up expecting nothing. England rolled up expecting everything while saying they didn’t care. Eoin Morgan’s demeanour in the past fortnight has become increasingly tight, increasingly stern. “Pressure had nothing to do with it,” he said of his team’s previous loss, channelling the tartness of a disapproving relative.

England’s cricket the last four years has been free and easy. No longer. Perhaps it can’t be, not under this pressure. Perhaps they have not learned to play another way. Australia, without the weight of trying to make history, are now the ones relaxed. As they have proved, anything can happen from there.