After their shock loss to Zimbabwe, Australia needed to beat England in order to progress through to the Super 8 stage of the tournament. England won the toss and their captain Paul Collingwood sent Australia in to field. The Australians put in a very disciplined performance with the ball, taking wickets at regular intervals and keeping the run rate low throughout the innings. Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson each took 3 wickets, while Stuart Clark and Brett Lee took 2 and 1 respectively. Several of England's batsmen got starts, however failed to convert them with their top scorer being Andrew Flintoff, reaching 31.