Pakistan 338 - 4 (50.0 overs)
India 158 all out (30.4 overs)
A brilliant opening spell by Mohammed Amir followed by a near flawless performance in the field led to Pakistan taking the Champions Trophy with astonishing ease. They won by 180 runs against an India side widely tipped to prevail before the start.
Even after Pakistan had chalked up 338, which owed much to a barnstorming century from the new boy, Fakhar Zaman, there was still the feeling that the target was well within India’s compass, especially given Virat Kohli’s incredible record of scoring runs when chasing. But Amir, who had to miss the semi-final win over England because of back spasms, soon banished these thoughts with bowling of such quality that it conjured up memories of Wasim Akram in his pomp.
The classic in-swinger accounted for Rohit Sharma, who was lbw to Amir’s third ball. Out came Kohli. Soon the India captain pushed forward and edged to first slip where Azhar Ali juggled and dropped a straightforward catch. Azhar slapped the turf in exasperation and his team-mates were none too pleased either.
In came Amir again and this time Kohli spied runs on the leg side to rub salt into the wound but the ball took the leading edge and flew to backward point where Shadab Khan make no mistake. Jubilation was mixed with relief amid the celebrations of the Pakistan team. Soon to follow was Shikhar Dhawan edging a snorter to the keeper.
India were 33 for three but they had the vast experience of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni at the crease. Yet experience is not everything. Up stepped Shadab, an 18-year-old seeking to master cricket’s most difficult art: wrist-spin bowling.
He propelled a leg-break which struck Yuvraj’s front pad but the appeal was rejected. Shadab, despite – or maybe as a consequence of – his youth insisted upon a review and Sarfraz Ahmed, the captain, had the good sense to consent. Yuvraj had to go grumpily. In the next over Dhoni hooked in the air and was caught on the leg-side boundary.
At 54 for five it was all over barring a miracle but Hardik Pandya briefly threatened one. He hit three consecutive sixes off Shadab (but Sarfraz kept him on for another over anyway). There were two more off Fakhar, who had been pressed into service as an emergency left-arm spinner because of an injury to Imad Wasim.
Pandya had sped to 76 from 43 balls with Ravindra Jadeja a silent partner. They had added 80 in less than 10 overs when India’s fate was sealed. There is nothing more morale-sapping than a daft run-out which sacrifices the only hope of victory. Now the two batsmen ended up at the same end but it was the explosive Pandya rather than Jadeja who had to go. In the circumstances Jadeja should have sacrificed himself but this did not appear to occur to him.
So mighty India subsided against a team ranked No8 in the world, which they had crushed just over a fortnight ago. Pakistan had delivered a thrashing that no one had expected, which made it all the more mesmerising.
There has been an endearing serendipity about Pakistan throughout this tournament. It does not feel as if they have been plotting their campaign for the past two years whereas there is the impression that Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan have been thinking of little else.
Out of nowhere they have plucked Fakhar to open the batting. He was omitted from Pakistan’s first game of the tournament – that defeat against India – and then made his debut in their second against South Africa. Since then he has yet to fail, although he appeared to do so on Sunday. On three Fakhar edged a wide delivery from Jasprit Bumrah into the safe gloves of Dhoni and set off dolefully to the dressing room. But in the 21st century there is always the outside chance of a reprieve. It transpired that Bumrah had overstepped.
Initially there was no great expectation that Fakhar would make the Indians pay for this. Most of his early runs came from the edge of his bat; then there would be an eyebrow-raising boundary of great audacity. One moment Fakhar resembled a club cricketer caught up in a dreamlike sequence, which found him playing in a final watched by an enormous worldwide audience; the next he whipped the ball through the gaps like Brian Lara.
The opening pair added 128 and were separated only by a run out. Azhar Ali had progressed just as quickly as Fakhar, though with greater orthodoxy, when the two batsmen found themselves at the same end. Fakhar might have been distraught at this mix-up, which had culminated in the sacrifice of a senior player. Instead he seemed galvanised.
Fakhar played the two Indian spinners brilliantly, often with whipped drives that suggested he must have been a great hockey player in his youth. Sometimes he found the gaps; sometimes he simply cleared the boundary. Ravi Ashwin and Jadeja would bowl 18 overs for no wickets conceding 137 runs and it was Fakhar, an unknown bystander three weeks ago, who set the tone.
In his wake there were handy contributions from Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez whose 57 from 37 balls was suitably skittish especially for someone who is known as “The Professor”. The last 10 overs yielded 91 and Pakistan had set a target that had never been achieved in the final of an ICC tournament, a record that remained intact at the end of a very surprising afternoon.
1st Semi-final - England v Pakistan
England 211; Pakistan 215-2
Pakistan win by eight wickets with 77 balls to spare
Pakistan will be one half of an all-Asian final at The Oval on Sunday. Here they out-bowled, out-batted and out-thought an England side neutered by the occasion, the nature of a secondhand pitch and vibrant, skilful opponents
Against the odds Pakistan raced to the most emphatic of victories by eight wickets with 77 balls to spare to the delight of their fans, who were certainly noisier and probably more numerous than those supporting the home side.
England scored an improbable 211 from 49.5 overs. In this era one can expect them to be dismissed for such a low score now and again but surely from no more than 35 overs, so aggressive has been their modus operandi. That total was nowhere near enough. Triggered by another exotic innings from Fakhar Zaman (57 from 58 balls) Pakistan’s batsmen spared their ecstatic supporters any stress, apart from the puzzle of acquiring some tickets for the final.
The semi-final was really won by Pakistan in the field. A makeshift attack, devoid of Mohammad Amir, who was suffering from back spasms, and expertly marshalled by the increasingly Napoleonic Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps, bowled with great discipline and controlled aggression. A couple of dropped catches were of no consequence since the much-vaunted England batting lineup invited a variety of cliches. Were they flat-track bullies, one-trick ponies or all mouth and no trousers? Or a combination of all three?
We know Eoin Morgan’s side can devastate opponents on benign batting surfaces in routine ODIs. They have done this consistently over the past two years. Here they encountered a surface that was tricky, though, as Pakistan demonstrated in the afternoon, hardly impossible. And it was a match with all the obvious consequences. They could not adapt.
In their first 25 overs England had managed 118 for two. Progress had been slower than usual but there was surely scope to accelerate. In their second 25 they mustered 93 for eight. Their travails were highlighted by the innings of Ben Stokes, who scored 34 from 64 balls without hitting a boundary, the highest boundary-free score for England in ODI cricket since Paul Collingwood “struck” 47 from 71 balls against Pakistan in 2010 at Southampton – in a match England won. Stokes’ innings was the equivalent of Ernest Hemingway striding into a bar and asking for an orange juice.
Sarfraz’s decision to bowl first despite the dryness of the pitch, which was used for Monday’s game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, was justified by the result even if it was counterintuitive. Jonny Bairstow, replacing Jason Roy at the top of the order, might have been lbw second ball. By a whisker Pakistan’s review, after Bairstow was hit on the back pad by Junaid Khan, was unsuccessful.
Despite being dropped twice Bairstow promised much, crunching four crisp boundaries (there would only be 11 more in the entire innings) before he holed out to deep square leg. When Morgan and Joe Root were together sanity prevailed. They must have calculated that a good score did not have to start with the number three.
Once Root was caught behind off the 18-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Khan, a typically bold and shrewd selection, England lost their way dreadfully. Morgan and Stokes were becalmed when Sarfraz brought back his opening bowlers in mid-innings as he had done to good effect against Sri Lanka.
Morgan was caught behind aiming for one of his exotic cover drives from down the pitch against Hasan Ali and England, having been spluttering along, now conked out completely. There was the statutory daft run-out – of Rashid – and Stokes’ timing evaporated. Apart from Moeen Ali’s 11 no one down the order could reach double figures.
By now the potency of Pakistan’s bowling was matched by the ineptitude of England’s batting. Hasan, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, was superb once again, so too was Junaid and the replacement for Amir, Rumman Raees, was another Pakistan debutant equal to the task.
As England faltered and grew visibly exasperated at their inability to accelerate, Pakistan grew ever more impressive in the field as evidenced by a brilliant diving catch on the square leg boundary by Fakhar to dismiss Moeen. By now the ball sped towards Pakistan’s fielders like a magnet especially when Stokes was batting. There were times when even singles were hard to find. Mind you the current England team, so accustomed to finding the boundaries, seldom bother to steal singles now.
There was an element of desperation from England in the field. Mark Wood delivered a hostile opening spell. He found the top edge of Fakhar’s swinging bat on several occasions and the ball flew everywhere, for six over Jos Buttler’s head or wide of long leg, but not to hand. In between there were some glorious, improvised shots through midwicket.
Fakhar was eventually duped by Rashid’s googly; Azhar Ali was bowled off the inside edge by Jake Ball for an effortless – by the standards of the day – 76, whereupon Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez cantered to the target.
We can surmise that it will be trickier for Pakistan in the final on a batsman’s pitch at The Oval, whoever they play. Humiliatingly for England this was the most one-sided game of a tournament they were supposed to win.
2nd Semi-final - India v Bangladesh
Bangladesh 264-7; India 265-1
India win by nine wickets with 59 balls to spare
There was a rare occurrence in Birmingham. In contrast to just about everything else in the past year, the pundits were proven correct. India cruised to victory over Bangladesh just as the polls predicted and they now make their way down to London for the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan on Sunday.
The Oval will be bursting with vibrant supporters of both sides while every television from Mumbai to Multan will surely be relaying the action to the devoted millions of fans back home. It should be quite an occasion here and there.
There was also a buzz at Edgbaston, but not much tension since the passage of India into the final was stately and untroubled. The old order was calmly confirmed as India won by nine wickets with 59 balls to spare. This was an emphatic, stress‑free victory for Virat Kohli’s side. On an enticing batting pitch, where the bounce was more generous and predictable than in Cardiff, the target of 265 was nowhere near enough.
Rohit Sharma hit a dreamy century in which just about every delivery landed upon the middle of his bat and after Shikhar Dhawan had offered another of his D’Artagnan impersonations, Kohli, also relishing this batsman’s paradise, suggested that he is in sublime form and notched his 8,000th one-day international run in the process. As in the Cardiff semi on Wednesday it was all too easy to be a riveting spectacle and the gulf between the two sides on view was immense.
If the result was predictable, one of the architects of the victory was not. Kedar Jadhav is a 32-year-old batsman from Maharashtra who has finally worked his way into India’s one-day international side. His occasional off-breaks might have the coach of a park XI grimacing. They are slung down with a low arm at odds with all the manuals; there is no sign of flight nor spin; importantly his deliveries do not bounce much either.
Until Thursday Jadhav had taken nine wickets in his 104 List A matches and one in first-class cricket (after 74 games). Yet it was he who took the wickets of the only two Bangladesh batsmen to threaten India’s composure, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. In six overs Jadhav took two for 22; Ravi Ashwin, the best off‑spinner in the world, had figures of none for 54 from his 10. What a daft game.
It is unlikely that the analysts or the batsmen will have spent much time studying Jadhav in their preparation but somehow he was the man who stalled Bangladesh after they had been put into bat. Jadhav obviously deserves some credit for that; so too does captain Kohli, who recognised that he had a surprisingly potent arrow– or dart given how Jadhav propels the ball – in his quiver.
Bangladesh had recovered from a dodgy start by the time Jadhav was introduced. Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman both succumbed in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s opening spell. But Tamim and Mushfiqur restored the situation with a polished century partnership. Tamim was in relatively restrained mode having been especially watchful at the start; Mushfiqur found the gaps deftly. Three hundred-plus was a reasonable expectation when Kohli tossed the ball to Jadhav.
The part-time off-spinner did not appear to pose a threat. He sent down a couple of long hops but the batsmen, to their exasperation, failed to find the boundary. This was the secret of his success. Soon Tamim pulled another long hop straight to midwicket for no run; a cover drive from a half-volley went to extra cover; no run. For the first time Bangladesh’s opener, who has been so prolific in this tournament, lost his composure. He attempted a leg-side heave, missed the ball and was bowled.
It was not long before Mushfiqur was similarly infected. He had watched Shakib Al Hasan fall, expertly caught behind by MS Dhoni off Ravindra Jadeja, and he tried to regain the initiative – against Jadhav. A leg-side swipe, ugly by the high standards set by Mushfiqur, ended in the hands of Kohli at midwicket. The damage had been done.
Mashrafe Mortaza did his best at the end yet the last 10 overs produced just 57 runs; Kumar could not be collared but most impressive was Jasprit Bumrah, another non-Test bowler, but a far more serious one than Jadhav. His variations frequently flummoxed the tail.
Such was the assurance of Sharma and Dhawan at the start of India’s response that it became even clearer that Bangladesh’s total was utterly inadequate. The ball came on to the bat oh so sweetly and then it disappeared at a faster rate. Sharma caressed the ball around Edgbaston without a care in the world; so too did Dhawan until he sliced a drive against an increasingly beleaguered captain, Mortaza.
Bangladesh did not bowl particularly well. But even if they had, it is very doubtful whether India would have been troubled. Sharma continued to purr along and Kohli was quietly majestic and in no mood to allow any palpitations in the Indian dressing room. His team have earned a reputation for being formidable in tournament cricket, which may be the next ambition for Eoin Morgan and his not-so-merry men still smarting from that drubbing by Pakistan. India calmly kept that reputation intact.
Group A - England v Bangladesh
BAN 305/6
ENG 308/2
ENG win by 8 wickets
Joe Root compiled an unbeaten century as England opened their Champions Trophy campaign with victory over Bangladesh at The Oval.
Root made 133 not out and Alex Hales 95 as England, the bookmakers' favourites for the tournament, reached their target of 306 with 16 balls to spare.
Tamim Iqbal hit 128 in Bangladesh's 305-5, with Liam Plunkett taking 4-59.
But England suffered injury concerns as Chris Woakes sustained a side problem and Root appeared to hurt his calf.
Ben Stokes, who required a pre-match fitness test on a knee injury, did manage to bowl seven overs.
However, Woakes only sent down two before leaving the field, while Root hobbled through much of the second part of his innings.
England will probably secure a place in the semi-finals if they beat New Zealand in Cardiff on Tuesday, while Bangladesh almost certainly have to beat Australia on Monday to avoid being eliminated.
Ups and downs as England get going
England are strongly fancied to win their first global 50-over trophy largely because of the strength of their batting, which again impressed on a superb surface.
But their bowling, arguably a weakness, showed room for improvement for sterner tests to come. Pace bowler Jake Ball, preferred to the leg spin of Adil Rashid, went at more than eight an over.
Opener Jason Roy, with a highest score of 20 in his six previous one-day internationals, made only one from eight balls before scooping pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza to short fine leg.
Still, injuries are starting to look like the biggest problem. After doubts over Stokes, the loss of either Root or Woakes, England's highest ranked ODI batsman and bowler respectively, would be a huge blow.
Root leads the way
Even in such perfect conditions for batting, Bangladesh's total was enough to pressure England, especially after Roy was dismissed.
However, Root and Hales calmed any fears of an upset with a second-wicket stand of 159.
Hales muscled the ball through the leg side, played brutal cuts and lofted two sixes, only to be caught on the leg side boundary when looking for the blow that would have taken him to a century.
Root deftly worked the ball off his pads and behind square on the off side and, despite being in obvious discomfort after suffering the injury on 61, completed a 10th ODI hundred.
By that time he had been joined by captain Eoin Morgan. The left-hander survived a spectacular catch which was claimed by Tamim - but not given following a look at television replays - before compiling a typically calculated unbeaten 75.
They added an unbroken 143 for the third wicket, Root accelerating after passing three figures to post his highest ODI score.
Bangladesh impress before falling short
Bangladesh took advantage of being invited to bat, led by the sparkling Tamim and cheered on by an energetic crowd.
Tamim was on 19 when he could have fallen to a vicious Mark Wood bouncer but, after that, he despatched anything short and played drives down the ground.
He shared a stand of 166 with Mushfiqur Rahim (79) to move Bangladesh to a dangerous 259-2 with six overs remaining.
But Tamim skied to Jos Buttler and Mushfiqur holed to long on from successive Plunkett deliveries to halt the Tigers' momentum.
Bangladesh posted their highest ODI total against England, but it was still about 30 runs short of really testing the powerful home batting.
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Group A - Australia v New Zealand
New Zealand 291 (45/46 ov)
Australia 53/3 (9/33 ov, target 235)
No result
History never repeats, the iconic New Zealand band Split Enz would have us believe. Turns out they didn't know what they were talking about. History very much repeated on Friday at Edgbaston, where back in 2013 Australia and New Zealand had met in a Champions Trophy group match. On that occasion, the first innings was completed and the chase was underway when rain washed the game away. And this year? Ditto.
There was enough play in this match for Kane Williamson to score his first ODI hundred against Australia, Josh Hazlewood to claim a career-best six-wicket haul, and Luke Ronchi to spark concern among his former countrymen with a 33-ball half-century. But there was not enough for a result, with Australia's chase only nine overs old - 11 short of the 20 required - when the rain set in. And so the points from the match were shared.
It leaves both teams searching for victories from their remaining two games against Bangladesh and England, although depending on results and net run-rates, it could be possible to progress past the group with just one win and this no-result. New Zealand likely felt the more disappointed by the weather, for with Australia at 53 for 3 from nine overs in pursuit of 235 from 33, Kane Williamson's men would have fancied their chances.
David Warner had been caught behind for 18 slashing at Trent Boult, a scratchy-looking Aaron Finch had chipped a catch to midwicket off Adam Milne for 8, and Moises Henriques sent a return catch to Milne for 18 from what turned out to be the final ball of the game. It left Australia in the remarkable position of having five of their past six ODIs at Edgbaston washed out, during a period that stretches back to their 2005 tour of England.
Earlier, Williamson had won the toss and chosen to bat on what he thought looked a good pitch for run-making. Steven Smith said he would have bowled anyway. For much of New Zealand's innings it seemed that Williamson had made the better assessment as he amassed a century and a hefty total loomed, but a late collapse and six-wicket haul from Josh Hazlewood kept Australia firmly in the contest.
Williamson was run out for an even 100 and it sparked a period of rapid decline for New Zealand, who lost their last seven wickets for 37 in the space of six overs. Hazlewood mopped up the lower order in emphatic fashion, finishing with a career-best 6 for 52 as New Zealand failed by an over to last their reduced allotment of 46 overs.
It was quite the turnaround after Australia were first mauled by a man who used to be one of their own. Ronchi blasted his way to a 33-ball half-century to justify his inclusion ahead of Tom Latham, before Williamson and Ross Taylor combined for a 99-run partnership that kept New Zealand on the right path.
The Australians were rusty in the field - Ronchi was dropped by Mitchell Starc at mid-on and also survived when Australia muffed what should have been a straightforward run-out - and looked like a side that had not played ODI cricket for several months. Smith said at the toss that he was pleased his fast bowlers would have first use of the conditions, but they were not helped by an almost total lack of swing.
In fact, the only thing swinging in the early overs was Ronchi's bat, as he thumped boundaries all around the ground. He lost his opening partner, Martin Guptill, whose leading edge was caught at point off Hazlewood for 26, and almost lost his own wicket he gave up on an attempted single only to see the throw miss, and Matthew Wade fail to gather the ball cleanly, allowing Ronchi to make his ground.
A lengthy rain delay in the tenth over reduced the contest to 46 overs per side, and Ronchi scored quickly upon the resumption. Australia knew what he could do - he had smashed a 22-ball ODI fifty for Australia against West Indies back in 2008, but this time they were on the receiving end. To add to their frustration, after Ronchi was dropped by Starc at mid-on off Pat Cummins he crunched the next two balls for a four and a six.
His stay ended on 65 off 43 balls when he was caught at point off John Hastings, but New Zealand by that stage were 117 for 2 and had more than 30 overs remaining to build on their total. That was precisely what Williamson and Taylor set out to do, two of the most level-headed of international batsmen compiling a common-sense partnership that by just a single run failed to become their fourth consecutive ODI century stand in England.
Hastings managed to deceive Taylor (46) with a slower cross-seamer that was skied to cover, but if the hundred partnership was not to eventuate then a personal century for New Zealand's captain would have to suffice. Williamson brought up his hundred from his 96th delivery but perished soon afterwards, run out with eight fours and three sixes to his name.
And then came the carnage. Neil Broom was caught in the deep off Hazlewood, Corey Anderson skied a catch off Pat Cummins in the next over, James Neesham whacked a catch to mid-on off Hazlewood in the next. And Hazlewood finished things quickly in his next over with three wickets in four balls, running through Milne, Mitchell Santner and Boult.
It left the Australians needing 292 from 46 overs, which was then altered to 235 off 33 overs following further rain during the innings break. It turned out that even the 20 overs needed to consititute a match was unattainable.
Group B - Sri Lanka v South Africa
South Africa 299/6 (50.0 ov)
Sri Lanka 203 (41.3 ov)
South Africa won by 96 runs
Sri Lanka had lost five ODIs to South Africa already this year, but had hoped that months later, playing for a different trophy, they could apply the lessons learned during that walloping. It wasn't to be. The gulf in quality between these teams was borne out by the margin of South Africa's victory: 96 runs.
In fact, South Africa may reflect that despite Hashim Amla's velvet 103 from 115 balls, and Faf du Plessis' efficient 75, they were not quite explosive enough during the death.
They had begun indifferently with the ball too, allowing a pugnacious Niroshan Dickwella to unsettle them in the Powerplay, but soon, the middle-overs mastery of Imran Tahir took grip, and Sri Lanka's chase of 300 lay all but scuttled, as they slumped to 155 for 6 in the 30th over. In wiping the remainder of Sri Lanka's innings out in clinical fashion, South Africa have confirmed, if there was any doubt, that they are serious contenders for the trophy. Tahir's final figures were 4 for 27, but his effect on the match was even more substantial than those numbers lay out.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka, for whom it is now a compliment that only one important catch was dropped, gleaned only minor personal positives from the match. Dickwella set the chase off to a roaring start, Upul Tharanga contributed a half-decent fifty, Kusal Perera stood firm at one end while the lower order crashed around him, and Nuwan Pradeep showcased a slowly burgeoning range of skills with the ball. But these are not the kinds of performances that win matches.
The defining periods of play were the middle overs in each innings: having picked the less-aggressive spin option in Seekkuge Prasanna, Sri Lanka allowed Amla and du Plessis to prosper too easily during those overs, and with the bat, lost five wickets for 66 runs from overs 11 to 30.
For Amla, who had set South Africa on course for 299 - an imposing score, given the slightly slow nature of the surface - this innings may not rank as one of his best, but it did get him to the milestone of 25 ODI hundreds in 11 fewer innings than any previous batsman had managed it. He now also sits alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting to have 25 hundreds in both Tests and ODIs.
He was cautious to begin with, as Sri Lanka delivered some exceptionally tight overs. Initially, he hovered in the crease, dabbing and squeezing his way into the innings. Not until the penultimate ball of the first Powerplay did he venture a boundary: a flick off Pradeep over the leg side. He made only 26 off the first 40 balls he faced.
But following the departure of Quinton de Kock, whe nicked off to Pradeep, Amla playd with more ambition. There was a six over long-off, off Asela Gunaratne, in the 19th over, and in the 24th he slunk down the pitch to send Seekkuge Prasanna sailing over the deep midwicket fence. In between those two shots he had reached fifty, and suddenly, was scoring at close to a run a ball.
His partnership with du Plessis was the most fruitful of the innings, and the pair hauled South Africa to a position of strength with their quickening 145-run stand. Amla, having provided the innings its thrust during the overs when du Plessis was feeling his way into the game, allowed his partner to make the riskier plays during the middle overs, saving for himself the role of turning the strike over. In fact, between the 24th and 43rd over - when he got out - he hit only one boundary. South Africa scored only 78 runs in the last 10 overs, thanks again to some tight bowling by Pradeep, with support from Lasith Malinga and Suranga Lakmal. Of those runs, JP Duminy contributed 38 in the space of 20 deliveries.
Sri Lanka will particularly rule the rate at which their innings crashed and burned, because by the end of the first Powerplay, they had scored 55 more runs than South Africa had managed at that stage of the innings. Dickwella led this charge, flitting about the crease to carve the quicks over the offside, then jumping across to leg to whip them over leg, during his 33-ball 41. With Tharanga also batting confidently through those overs, it seemed inconceivable that Sri Lanka would not at least mount a muscular challenge to South Africa's total.
In the end, Tahir became their downfall, just as he had been during that bilateral series earlier in the year. Dinesh Chandimal got himself run-out trying to get off strike in Tahir's first over, before Chamara Kapugedara was trapped in front by a googly three balls later. Tharanga then launched a ball into the hands of deep cover, and Asela Gunaratne squirted a catch to square leg, and pretty soon, a rapid start had turned into a procession of wickets. Perera stuck around for 66 balls and hit 44 unbeaten runs, but Sri Lanka were already out of contention for most of his stay. Tahir came back to take the final wicket, and Sri Lanka were all out in the 42nd over.
Group B - India v Pakistan
India 319/3 (48/48 ov)
Pakistan 164 (33.4/41 ov, target 289)
India win by 124 runs (D/L method)
India kicked off their Champions Trophy defence with a crushing 124-run victory over a ragged Pakistan, who were broken by Virat Kohli in front of a global audience of up to a billion.
Worldwide interest in the Asian derby, last played in the one-day format at the 2015 World Cup, dwarfs that of the Champions League final, but aside from Kohli’s glorious strokeplay at the end of the Indian innings the excitement of a cacophonous capacity crowd at Edgbaston was not matched by a quality contest in the middle.
Kohli’s unbeaten 81 hit all the right notes as India plundered 117 from their last 10 overs, 72 of which came from the final 24 deliveries, on their way to a winning score of 319 for three.
But Pakistan were passive opponents, dreadful in the field, flaky under crucial catches and unable to mount a credible chase when asked to pursue 289 in 41 overs on Duckworth/Lewis after a series of rain delays.
To add injury to insult, key seamers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz limped out of an already limited attack and the latter was unfit to bat, leaving his team 164 for nine at the close.
By the time they donated a succession of wickets to seal their defeat they looked every inch a team ready to take their leave, not just of this contest but the competition as a whole.
Rohit Sharma outscored Kohli at the head of the Indian innings, making 91, but chewed up 63 dot balls and advanced at a modest strike-rate of 76.
Yuvraj Singh’s ebullient 53 proved better entertainment, though he was dropped by Hasan Ali on eight and Kohli reprieved on 47 as Pakistan botched the basics.
Pakistan had won the toss and, after a minute’s silence for the London terror attack, saw Amir send down a brilliant first over. It was all downhill from there.
The fielding gaffes began almost immediately, Ahmed Shehzad fluffing a regulation stop at point, as Sharma and Dhawan cantered along to a 136-run stand under almost no pressure.
Both batsmen reached fifty in style, Sharma smearing Shadab Khan for six and Dhawan taking three consecutive fours off the wayward Wahab.
When the breakthrough came it required a juicy full-toss from Shadab and an ill-directed swipe from Dhawan.
Kohli’s arrival drew a predictably ear-splitting reaction but Sharma had begun to weigh down the innings and it was not until he was run out that India hit top gear.
Kohli and Yuvraj piled on 93 at almost 10 an over as all trace of Pakistani discipline evaporated and Amir, followed by Wahab, pulled up lame.
When Yuvraj departed lbw to Hasan it led to another upping of the ante, Kohli unfurling three sixes and three fours in a savage 11-ball interval before Hardik Pandya clubbed Imad Wasim for three sixes in as many balls in the 48th and final over.
Pakistan’s chase was twice interrupted by the weather but their prospects never looked bright.
Azhar Ali was game enough for the fight, keeping the scorers busy with a neat array of scoring shots that earned him a plucky half-century but support was minimal.
Shehzad and Babar Azam made negligible contributions before being picked off by Bhuveneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav and Shoaib Malik was brilliantly run out by Ravindra Jadeja after a promising start.
Azhar had already top-edged Jadeja to deep midwicket by then and all sense of jeopardy had gone.
India had almost tuned out themselves, Kedhar Jadhav inexplicably putting down a dolly at cover, but Pakistan’s race to the bottom continued.
The lower order came and went with a sense of urgency, looking every inch a side unwilling to battle on any longer. Yadav was on hand to assist, dismissing Amir and Hasan to finish with three for 30.
The Pakistan captain, Sarfraz Ahmed, said later that his team “had lost the plot in the last eight overs”.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mon Jun Group A - Australia v Bangladesh
Bangladesh 182 (44.3 ov)
Australia 83/1 (16.0 ov)
No result
After being on the fortunate end of a washout in their first group game, Australia were denied victory against Bangladesh at The Oval, where they were firmly in control of a small chase when it began to rain after 16 overs. They needed to play four more overs to ensure a result but the London weather did not allow it.
The last action on the field, before the players went off at 6.43 pm, involved Steven Smith simply blocking five deliveries from Mashrafe Mortaza without attempting to score, in the hope of speeding up proceedings to get to 20 overs. Australia would have been well ahead of the par score. The match was eventually called off at 9.18 pm.
With two points from two washouts, Australia now have to beat England in their final group game to have a chance of making the semi-finals. Bangladesh, who have only one point after two games, are not yet out of contention either.
It had drizzled towards the end of Bangladesh's innings and there was a small delay in the start of the chase. Australia began it confidently. Aaron Finch and David Warner clubbed a couple of boundaries each and the pace did not flag even after Finch fell lbw to Rubel Hossain. Warner became the fastest Australia to 4000 ODI runs.
Bangladesh bowled only one over of spin, not hurrying the over-rate along by using their quicks for 15 overs. As Smith and Warner began a fluent partnership, their race was not against the bowling but the weather, and ultimately it was futile.
The weather was fair for much of the first innings but Bangladesh's batting was not, with the exception of Tamim Iqbal, who waged a lone battle against Australia's pace battery.
His 95 came off 114 balls, and included six fours and three sixes, but Tamim had little support from his team-mates and had to readjust his tempo every time a wicket fell. The first three went in the space of 11 overs - Mushfiqur Rahim did not review his lbw through he had got an inside edge - and Tamim began to rebuild the innings with Shakib. Their partnership had grown to 69 before Shakib was given out lbw to Travis Head; Nigel Llong's decision appeared spot on despite the batsmen being well down the track.
Legspinner Adam Zampa debunked any doubt about his inclusion by taking two wickets in consecutive overs, though Smith brought him into the attack in the 35th over.
Mitchell Starc then ripped out the last four Bangladesh wickets in the space of nine balls, including three in one over - Tamim was caught pulling to fine-leg, before Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain were bowled by full and fast deliveries. Mustafizur Rahman narrowly survived Starc's hat-trick ball but Mehedi was clean bowled in the next over.
The weather had begun to worsen, though, and the players spent the best part of the evening indoors.
Group A - England v New Zealand
England 310; New Zealand 223 (ENG won by 87 runs)
• Jake Ball gets two wickets and is man of the match
England became the first side to secure a semi-final berth in the Champions Trophy by defeating New Zealand in conditions that would have had gnarled old yachtsmen scrambling for the shore and abandoned umbrellas flying off to the next county. That semi-final will take place in Cardiff on 14 June. Before that there is the small matter of a group game against Australia at Edgbaston on Saturday. Another victory there would send the Australians home.
Here, England won by 87 runs. Having batted competently to post 310 they bowled and fielded with superb discipline and intelligence, as polished a performance as they have delivered this season, especially since this was their most important match of the summer.
The pace bowlers, who were often blown off course in their approach to the wicket, were bang on target and brimful of intent. They even discovered an uneven patch just short of a length which made a few deliveries misbehave on what had hitherto been regarded as a blameless surface. At last the poor bowlers had something to aim at.
Critically one of those mischievous deliveries was directed at Kane Williamson and it would produce the key dismissal. Williamson had batted calmly for 87 and New Zealand, on 158 for two, were on course when Mark Wood ran up to bowl. The Kiwi captain, disconcerted by steep bounce, ended up gloving the ball to Jos Buttler behind the stumps; he left staring angrily at the surface, a signal that would not have a benign effect on his dressing room.
Now England seized their chance magnificently. They sensed the Kiwi batsmen had started to mistrust the pitch –Liam Plunkett had already caused some consternation when hitting Williamson on the helmet and Ross Taylor on the hand – and they gave them no respite. Jake Ball, who had started with two maidens, was as unrelenting as his senior partners and ended up as the man of the match. Ben Stokes, though a little more expensive, was hostile and appeared to bowl without pain. Morgan asked him to bowl eight overs. He would probably have bowled 10 if the match had gone the distance.
Adil Rashid, restored to the side, bowled as well as he has ever done in this format in conditions that offered him very little assistance. He is now surely in England’s best side even if the opponents are from Asia. After Williamson’s departure England’s out-cricket was flawless except for a spurned caught and bowled chance by Rashid. None of the Kiwis could threaten and the wickets fell in a flurry.
It ended up as a stroll yet at the halfway stage England’s total felt respectable but not invincible. Their innings never quite took off but it was never completely grounded either. In these conditions it was remarkable that the quality of the cricket from both sides was so high. At times the gusts reached 50mph, treacherously buffeting bowlers, while it was tricky for the batsmen to stand still. Sometimes the electric advertising hoardings were blown over; so too were the triangular covers stationed over the boundary ropes, which were often tossed infield. At least the gales blew away the rain.
As a consequence the game was almost unrecognisable, especially when the bowling was from the River Taff end. The boundary there is perilously short even in normal conditions so later in the innings the Kiwi bowlers tried to take the straight hit out of the equation. Hence they bowled a succession of bouncers, fast and slow, so that the batsmen had to hit towards the long boundary and crucially into the wind. Given the exploits of the England bowlers from that end later in the day they might have been better advised to bang the ball in on a length more frequently in pursuit of some of the uneven bounce found by Plunkett and Wood.
The England batsmen, marshalled by Buttler at the end, gleaned their runs pragmatically, apart from a barren last over. They might have scored more but every time a promising partnership was about to flourish a wicket fell.
That even applied during the opening partnership since Jason Roy lasted a little longer than usual. He was there for eight overs and 13 runs before trying something extravagant against Adam Milne. He shimmied to the offside prematurely leaving his leg stump exposed and that is where the ball ended up. Roy departed in a fury, presumably at his own premeditation. There can be no guarantees that he keeps his place against Australia.
Thereafter England were indebted to significant rather than major contributions from Alex Hales, Joe Root, Stokes and Buttler. As at the Oval against Bangladesh Hales was dismissed straight after hitting a six, something for him to ponder.
Root purred as usual, caressing two sixes off the left-arm spinner, Mitchell Santner, in the knowledge that he only had to clear mid-on. In his partnership with Stokes he was frequently denied the strike (he faced 15 balls to Stokes’s 37) and this seemed to upset his rhythm. He was bowled off his inside edge, almost his first false shot.
Stokes, who hit some wonderfully crisp boundaries in between the dots was caught at third man and then Buttler did his stuff. In fact he was not as fluent as usual; his first boundary came from his 24th delivery and that was an edge over the keeper, but he was never becalmed. Later another shot from Buttler headed over Luke Ronchi behind the stumps but this one was intentional: a preposterous ramp over his shoulder off Trent Boult nearly struck a cameraman high above the sightscreen, who up until then had thought that the gusting wind was his biggest threat.
Group B - Pakistan v South Africa
South Africa 219/8 (50.0 ov)
Pakistan 119/3 (27/27 ov, target 101)
Pakistan won by 19 runs (D/L method)
Pakistan lived up to every well-worn trope about the mercurial nature of their cricket, delivering a resurgent, prediction-defying performance in the field followed by a tense run chase that felled South Africa via Duckworth-Lewis and kept their Champions Trophy campaign alive.
Sarfraz Ahmed’s side had been written off as no-hopers after their lamentable defeat to India at this ground on Sunday. But as the rain fell in Birmingham and forced the players off at 7.38pm, his batsmen were 119 for three from 27 overs, chasing 220 to win, and 19 runs above the par score of 100, victory was theirs when the match was called off at 9.44pm.
It had followed a gloriously absorbing passage of play in the most compelling contest of this already soggy tournament. Babar Azam’s unbeaten 31 from 51 balls and a similarly watchful 26 from Mohammad Hafeez had battled to keep their side north of the crucial equation in front of a vocal Pakistani crowd and amid the growing mizzle and murk.
When the latter became Morne Morkel’s third victim in a hostile performance from the right-armer, as captain AB de Villiers shuffled around with his Duckworth-Lewis sheets and Pakistan were just one run ahead. But Shoaib Malik emerged with a flurry of boundaries in an unbeaten 16 that would ease the local tension and prompt huge cheers when the skies fully opened.
That Pakistan’s overall target was so meagre came down to a transformed performance in the field after losing the toss, as players policed the inner ring and crucially – in quintessential Pakistani fashion – they got the two white balls to move off the straight for the first time seen in this tournament.
Hassan Ali, the slippery right-armer from Punjab, was the chief destroyer with this mere hint of movement, picking up three for 23 from his eight overs including two in two balls as the Proteas were reduced to 219 for eight from 50 overs.
The tone was set by Pakistan’s left‑arm seamers, Mohammad Amir and the recalled Junaid Khan, but it was the spinners who inflicted the first bout of panic in the South Africa dressing room. With dots mounting up through this renewed collective effort, Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez reduced the Proteas to 61 for three in the 15th over, capped off by De Villiers experiencing his first golden duck in one-day international cricket.
The left arm of Imad struck first, pinning Hashim Amla in front on 16, before Hafeez – unused against India – repeated the trick to Quinton de Kock on 20.
If Edgbaston was throbbing at this stage, it found a whole new level when De Villiers rocked back to his first ball from Imad and carved it to straight to backward point. What’s eating South Africa’s captain at present, given his similarly distracted dismissal against Sri Lanka, is anyone’s guess.
From here it was over to Hassan, who after persuading Faf du Plessis to chop on to his stumps on 26 produced the burst for the ages as, from around the wicket and with just a smidgeon of line-holding movement, the edge of JP Duminy’s bat was found to reward an attacking wide slip, followed by the removal of Wayne Parnell’s off-stump first ball.
That South Africa did not implode fully came down to Miller’s unbeaten 75, defying his usually belligerent style in stands of 47 and 49 with Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada and finishing the innings with a bludgeoned four.
Junaid accounted for both of his tail‑end partners before the conclusion of the innings, with Hassan – the man who crucially dropped Yuvraj Singh on Sunday – summing up Pakistan’s head-scratching upturn with two swirling catches in the deep.
Pakistan’s reply began in bold fashion as Fakhar Zaman attacking anything wide in a breakneck 31 from only 23 balls. The debutant’s opening salvo was ended at slip via a smart off-cutter by Morkel, followed by Azhar Ali ramping the right‑armer to third man on nine to prompt a steady ascent first from Babar and Hafeez, before Shoaib’s late cameo.
Group B - India v Sri Lanka
India 321-6, Sri Lanka 322-3 Sri Lanka won by seven wickets
On a grey, tense, occasionally febrile day at The Oval a Champions Trophy that has fizzled and sparked burst into vibrant life as Sri Lanka beat India by seven wickets to scenes of great joy among their flag-twirling fans.
This was a hugely impressive, relentlessly aggressive team batting performance as Sri Lanka chased down India’s 321, a total built around a fine century from Shikhar Dhawan. For India the match was probably lost in the middle overs as Sri Lanka bowled tightly and only MS Dhoni of that trio of grand middle order guns got into double figures.
Afterwards Angelo Mathews dedicated the win to Sri Lanka’s recent flood victims and said he hoped victory might “bring a smile” in some difficult times. The result at The Oval has also thrown up an intriguing turn for the tournament itself, with the final fixtures in Group B – Pakistan versus Sri Lanka and South Africa versus India – pared back into de facto knockout quarter-finals. It might have taken a while. We may have had to dry our socks once or twice. But the next 10 days look fraught with possibilities.
This match might still have turned late on with Sri Lanka closing in on India’s total.
Having limped his way to a feisty 47 Kusal Perera wandered off clutching a hamstring, breaking the spell of a wonderful partnership with Mathews that had seemed to be romping cloudlessly towards the finish. In came Asela Gunaratne in his place, a fun, slightly clubby-looking cricketer, who poked around a little before getting off the mark with a wonderful pulled six over square leg to leave Sri Lanka needing 43 from 36 balls. Gunaratne kept on swinging, plonking Jasprit Bumrah over midwicket. Mathews raced to his 50 and with eight balls remaining Sri Lanka were home.
The large Indian crowd was slightly chastened by the end, not to mention distinctly thinned out. But The Oval had been a seething and enthused full house for most of the day, with flags and colours of both nations ranged around the bleachers. The first great swirl of excitement came at the toss as Mathews chose to field, offering up the prospect of another display of muscular ignition from that bravura Indian top order.
At times, though, the most striking moments in a cricket match tend to arrive with a stunned hush. And so it was here midway though the Indian innings, with the deep blue platform set and the crowd cranking up the volume. Rohit Sharma had got to 50 with a flipped six off Thisara Perera, bringing up the hundred without loss in the 20th over. That first six was hit hard and flat and spilt over the boundary by Gunaratne, but the same shot led to Sharma being bounced out two overs later, spooning a catch to deep fine leg.
Enter Virat Kohli, to the familiar gale of triumphalist squeals and swoons. Bathos is defined as a sudden, unintentionally humorous anti-climax. Another definition might be Kohli c Dickwella b Pradeep 0, the world’s top white-ball batsman caught attempting a glide to a full-length ball that moved off the seam, as they will at times in England. Kohli trudged off, the silence broken only by some “who are you” chants from the Anglo-Sri Lankan ultras in the OCS stand. Kohli has batted five times now for India at The Oval for 54 runs and five times out.
At the other end Dhawan kept on motoring, that huge, pale sabre of a bat marking out a lovely high parabola and sending the ball disappearing at high speeds square of the wickets. But at 179 for two the second stunned silence arrived as Yuvraj Singh was dismissed, bowled by Gunaratne jamming a full loopy ball down into the ground, feet motionless, and seeing the ball bounce back on to his stumps. Asela bowls something perhaps best described as mystery trundlers. This was a floaty cutter that Yuvraj just seemed to lose.
Exit one galactico, enter Dhoni, who got off the mark with an extraordinary helicopter-upper cut – into the crowd over wide third man. The 200 came up at the end of the 38th over. Dhawan carved his way to his 10th hundred in one-day internationals, seven of which have come outside India. Hardik Pandya came and went, flogging Lakmal over midwicket for six before a flaccid exit next ball, swatting a wide yorker to cover.
Dhoni rattled along to 50 at a run a ball, a patient innings studded with brutal hitting, but was out soon after whirling himself almost off his feet skying a catch to long off. And for all the delirium of the crowd a score of 321 for six was imposing but still gettable.
Sri Lanka emerged cautiously in reply, edging to 44 from their opening 10 overs for the loss of Dickwella, caught slicing to short third man. The commandingly upright left-hander Danushka Gunathilaka drove with authority and produced one spanked swivelling six over deep fine leg that clattered the seats. He was joined by Kusal Mendis, who played with real wristy power all around the wicket as Sri Lanka got after Ravindra Jadeja, reduced on a bland English pitch to a rather glamorous purveyor of left-arm darts. Gunathilaka was run out for a fine 76, his top score in ODIs.
Mendis departed soon after for a lovely 89, brilliantly run out by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but both Mathews and Kusal Perera carved fearlessly as India’s fielding grew a little ragged and a tough looking chase became a stately, occasionally violent procession.
Group A - New Zealand v Bangladesh
New Zealand 265-8, Bangladesh 268-5 (Bangladesh won by 5 wickets)
Bangladesh will be the side in Group A keeping an anxious eye on proceedings at Edgbaston on Saturday. Their spectacular defeat of New Zealand by five wickets means they will play in the semi-final in Birmingham on 15 June if England beat Australia or – and let no one wish for this – the rain ruins that game, bringing about another no result.
The architects of a scintillating victory were two of the old stalwarts of Bangladesh cricket, Shakib al-Hasan and Mahmudullah, both of whom hit brilliant centuries from a seemingly hopeless situation. They conjured a record stand for Bangladesh against any side anywhere: 224 precious runs from 219 balls. Theirs was a stunning, characterful union that had Bangladesh’s supporters finding their voice as victory became a possibility and becoming hoarse when it was almost a formality as Shakib cut loose like D’Artagnan with the finishing line in sight.
With Bangladesh tottering on 33 for four in pursuit of 266 for victory a Kiwi mauling was imminent. Tim Southee had wrecked the Bangladesh upper order with a devastating opening burst that accounted for Tamim Iqbal, the mainstay in earlier games, Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar before the fifth over was complete.
Trent Boult was almost as dangerous as the Kiwis found a ball that was prepared to swing just a fraction in the opening overs. He found the edge of Mushfiqur Rahman’s bat but Ross Taylor at slip could not quite hold on to a tester. No matter; Mushfiqur was soon clean bowled by Adam Milne.
Shakib had been looking on, seemingly phlegmatic though frequently discomforted by the excellence of New Zealand’s three-pronged attack. However it is only a three-pronged attack. When Williamson had to look elsewhere for his bowlers Mahmudullah bedded in alongside Shakib and batting suddenly became feasible. This pair has played 320 ODIs between them so they knew what to do. They bided their time against the key Kiwi triumvirate and then expertly gleaned their runs against the rest. By the end they mastered all the bowlers.
The New Zealand innings of 265 for eight was a scratchy affair. The solitary six, a cleanly struck off drive by Martin Guptill off Mashrafe Mortaza, hinted at the usual 21st-century mayhem. But it never materialised.
After the departure of the openers Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor batted as if they had very little confidence in the men to follow and maybe their misgivings were justified since the Kiwi lower order would perform no better here than in their previous games. Williamson and Taylor accumulated like old pros; singles would do interspersed by the odd boundary.
Together they added 83, the highest partnership of the innings, enabling the Kiwis to reach 150 for two by the 30th over. Then Williamson displayed a rare moment of impatience. This did not come about via a false stroke, but an injudicious call.
No doubt the Kiwi captain wanted some acceleration. Taylor flicked the ball straight to Mossadek Hossain at short fine-leg and Williamson set off. Taylor, understandably, was not very interested and Williamson became another leader, who felt compelled to execute a fatal U-turn. Mossadek’s throw was not ideal but Shakib gathered it deftly.
This was the third time in four ODI innings that Williamson has been run out. He joins the ranks, which include his fellow Kiwi, John Wright, and Geoffrey Boycott, of those who are great technicians yet scatterbrain runners.
After Williamson’s departure Neil Broom and Taylor, who top-scored with an old-fashioned 63 from 82 balls, added 49 together but the tail could not wag. Only 62 runs came from the final 10 overs with Mossadek snaring three for 13 from his three overs of skidding off-breaks. Bangladesh were pleased with their efforts in the field; they were cock-a-hoop when Mahmudullah walked triumphantly from the field.
Group A - England v Australia
Australia 277-9; England 240-4 England win by 40 runs (DLS method)
This England side are dangerous when they play with freedom, as Australia discovered in the West Midlands Colosseum. And this was a free game for them. Unlike the rest of the teams in this tournament they were already assured of their semi-final slot at the start of play, which may have helped to account for the flamboyant, carefree manner in which they sent Australia packing. This outcome means that Bangladesh will be contesting the Edgbaston semi-final on Thursday.
Needing 278 to win England were propelled by a blistering partnership between Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes. The margin of victory was dictated by the DLS method after yet more rain in Birmingham. But at least there was a proper result this time, England winning by 40 runs. They were 240 for four with 9.4 overs remaining when play was suspended.
On a surface that invited strokeplay, especially when there was pace on the ball, this pair had a packed house salivating in between singing “Cheerio, Cheerio, Cheerio” to their favourite rivals. Both left-handers were in sublime form. If anything Morgan rather than Stokes, whose innings was a model of powerful orthodoxy, had everyone gasping.
Sometimes England’s captain shimmied down the pitch to the Australian pacemen to crack the ball through the covers. At others he stayed back to smash it square. One of his sixes, an instinctive swipe off Josh Hazlewood, just kept going – defying the wind and the longest boundary. The faster Pat Cummins tried to bowl, the further the ball travelled.
The situation facing Morgan and Stokes mirrored that encountered by Bangladesh on Friday against New Zealand in Cardiff as three wickets fell early in the run chase. Such a setback would soon seem a pinprick.
There is space here to describe Jason Roy’s innings in full: a straight-driven boundary first ball; lbw to Mitchell Starc second ball, though proceedings were delayed when he misguidedly sought a review. His judgment was awry there as well. So the Roy conundrum continues. One suspects the 1922 Committee might have got rid of him by now.
Alex Hales was caught at slip off Hazlewood for a duck and Joe Root edged to the keeper just before the first interruption for rain. It was 35 for three and briefly England might have been relieved that this was a free game.
However, it transpired that three early wickets were not enough for Australia, just as four were insufficient for New Zealand against Bangladesh. When the players returned Morgan unveiled some sparkling cover drives and Stokes was soon into his stride.
The boundaries are reasonably big here but not large enough to contain Morgan in this form. He hit five sixes and could only be dispatched via a chaotic run out after 159 had been added. Stokes spooned towards mid-on and scampered for a run; Morgan watched the ball rather than his partner and Adam Zampa’s throw lit up the stumps. This was the best piece of Australian fielding amid some messy out-cricket, albeit in the gloaming of the late afternoon when it was obviously tough to pick up the white ball.
Morgan’s departure was not a great setback. Jos Buttler settled in without many alarms and Stokes with a hint of serenity – let’s hope he is not maturing too fast – had posted his third ODI century when the rain returned. By then an undercooked Aussie side had just about accepted the inevitable.
The rustiness of the Australian team was also reflected in their inability to make the most of a vigorous start when they batted. After 32 overs they were 181 for three and another target over 300 was on the horizon. But they could not capitalise. At one point they lost five wickets for 15 runs in the space of 26 balls with Adil Rashid and Mark Wood, who took eight wickets between them, their chief tormentors. In the end Australia reached 277 for nine thanks to a sparky innings from Travis Head, who was exasperated to watch the lower order come and go in the blink of an eye.
That rustiness, a consequence of the rain following Australia wherever they tread in the UK, did not appear to hinder the top order so much. David Warner had struck four crisp boundaries before he edged a delivery from Wood to Jos Buttler. Aaron Finch was less silky but eventually began to connect with the ball in his no-nonsense style. He shared a run-a-ball partnership with Steve Smith before lofting a catch to the extra cover region off Stokes, who would have one of his more profligate days with the ball.
Up went the ball into a swirling wind and it seemed to stay there long enough for the odds on the catch being taken to lengthen considerably. Morgan swivelled in a 360-degree arc, never a good sign, yet he caught the ball without fumbling or falling to the ground. No honest armchair critic from another era could profess that this was a simple catch which would have been easily gobbled up in his/her day.
Smith and Moisés Henriques, who looked devastating for 15 minutes, both fell to more straightforward catches by Liam Plunkett. Then Glenn Maxwell fell to what is regarded as a routine catch in this decade, but one which has the old-timers gasping. A Maxwell hammer off Wood headed for the Hollies Stand when Roy came into view; he caught the ball above his head, realised that his feet were going to cross the boundary and so he calmly tossed the ball in the air before returning to the field of play to catch it, a run-of-the-mill moment of brilliance in this era.
From there Australia subsided against Rashid, who was excellent for the second game in succession. Both Matthew Wade and Starc embarked on premeditated contortions to make the bowler’s job easier as Head looked on aghast from the non-striker’s end. It was a case of Australia keeping their Head while all about him were losing theirs.
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Group B - India v South Africa
South Africa 191 (44.3 overs): De Kock 53, Bumrah 2-28
India 193-2 (38 overs): Dhawan 78, Kohli 76*
India won by eight wickets
India crushed shambolic South Africa by eight wickets at The Oval to reach the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy.
World number ones South Africa, who are eliminated, suffered three run-outs in a collapse of eight wickets for 51 runs to be bowled out for 191.
Shikhar Dhawan made 78 and Virat Kohli 76 not out as India raced to their target with 12 overs to spare.
India join England and Bangladesh in the last four, with Sri Lanka meeting Pakistan on Monday for the final spot.
It would take a dramatic swing in net run-rate for India to be toppled as Group B leaders, so they are likely to play Bangladesh at Edgbaston on Thursday. England are already guaranteed to play in the first semi in Cardiff on Wednesday.
Though South Africa are eliminated, they remain in England for three Twenty20 internationals, followed by a four-Test series.
South Africa self-destruct
Despite having four batsmen inside the top 10 of the world ODI rankings, South Africa could only muster 219-8 in their defeat by Pakistan last Wednesday. This, though, was a greater implosion - comical, calamitous and self-inflicted.
Firstly AB de Villiers failed to beat Hardik Pandya's throw from point to depart with a tournament total of 20 runs.
De Villiers was running with Faf du Plessis who, five balls later, was involved in a farcical mix-up with David Miller that ended with both men striving to make ground at the striker's end as the bails were removed at the non-striker's. The third umpire adjudged Miller as the man out.
Fittingly, a run-out completed the collapse. Imran Tahir and JP Duminy met in the middle of the pitch, with Tahir's turn and dive unable to save him.
India impress with the ball
India suffered a chastening defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka last Thursday as a chase of 322 was completed with six balls to spare. Here their bowlers impressed, albeit with some South African help.
In a soporific opening to the Proteas' innings, openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock were squeezed - the run-rate barely edged past four an over in an opening stand of 76.
Recalled off-spinner Ravinchandran Ashwin had Amla caught behind for 35 and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja had a sweeping De Kock lbw for 53. Then, after the run-outs, the pacemen got to work.
Hardik Pandya bowled Du Plessis with a slower ball, Jasprit Bumrah had Chris Morris top edge to mid-wicket and Andile Phehlukwayo lbw to a full toss.
Runs dried up - only 60 came from the final 19 overs of an innings ended by two wickets in two balls for Bhuvneshwar Kumar before Tahir's final, desperate run-out.
To defend such a meagre total, South Africa needed every half-chance to be held, but a Kohli hook off Morne Morkel fell short of Morris at fine leg before Amla put down a very tough chance off the same batsman at first slip off Phehlukwayo.
The India skipper arrived after Rohit Sharma played a needless waft at Morkel to be caught behind, but that never felt like the beginning of a South Africa fightback.
Left-hander Dhawan, the tournament's leading runscorer, sparkled square of the wicket, adding 121 with Kohli before he miscued Tahir to long-off.
Kohli played handsome drives on both sides, completing the job with Yuvraj Singh, who sealed the match with a six to the delight of a noisy and partisan crowd.
'You have to laugh, otherwise you're going to cry'
Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith on Test Match Special: "That run-out of AB de Villiers just sparked panic in the batting line-up. It's like they've never batted together before, like they've never heard the sound of a crowd.
"You have to laugh, otherwise you're going to cry. This performance doesn't bode well for South Africa's tour of England after this tournament."
India captain Virat Kohli: "It was a good toss to win, the wicket didn't change too much. Our bowlers bowled really well and the fielders backed it up. It was a complete performance in the field, we grabbed the chances that came our way."
South Africa captain AB de Villiers: "It's not an ideal way to finish the tournament. It's disappointing, but credit to them.
"We got something nice going until the run-outs which cost us highly today. We just came unstuck against a better team today."
Group B Sri Lanka v Pakistan
Sri Lanka 236; Pakistan 237-7, Pakistan won by three wickets
There have been higher-quality games of cricket in this tournament but none yet with such a taut finish. Beyond the dropped catches (there were plenty of those) and the overthrows and the wanton strokes there was at the end of Cardiff’s sunniest day so far the wonderful tension that knock-out cricket can generate.
At the end of it all Pakistan scraped to a victory that should have been so much more straightforward. They won by three wickets but they needed an eighth-wicket partnership of 75 between their captain, Sarfraz Ahmed, and Mohammad Amir to get them over the line. Sarfraz produced a captain’s innings of 61 not out but he was badly dropped on 38 and less culpably on 40 as Sri Lanka faltered in the field in the closing overs.
This victory means that England will meet Pakistan in Cardiff in the first semi‑final on Wednesday. They may be happy about that for the surface here seems to suit some of their team (their bowlers if not their batsmen).
There has not been much encouragement for bowlers in this tournament but the likelihood of some lateral movement for the fast men has been greater in Wales than in England. There may not be much pace in the pitches in Cardiff but good bowlers have sporadically found some movement. In earlier games Tim Southee, Liam Plunkett and Mark Wood have gained some assistance from grass, which Eoin Morgan has described as “thatchy”.
Pakistan, especially with the introduction of Junaid Khan as a replacement for the volatile Wahab Riaz alongside Amir and Hasan Ali, now have a triumvirate of pace bowlers who seem adept at exploiting any help. Hence they may be more dangerous opponents for England than Sri Lanka might have been.
Their pace trio were effective on Monday. Between them they took eight wickets with the debutant seamer Fahim Ashraf also picking up two. Such conditions favour Pakistan’s style of play. They are not so well equipped to chase the mega-totals as their batting lineup may be described as old-fashioned – with the exception of the newcomer Fakhar Zaman, a left-hander who wastes no time. But mega-totals in Cardiff are not guaranteed.
On a cloudy, mercifully dry day Sri Lanka were restricted to a modest total of 236. Amir and Junaid combined to puncture the Sri Lankan effort, taking four wickets for six runs in four overs. Hence the innings subsided to 167 for seven and beyond significant restoration even though Asela Gunaratne and Suranga Lakmal managed to raise the target to 237.
Sri Lanka looked to be on target for many more. After the early loss of Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis combined to add 56 enchanting runs. One ramp over the wicketkeeper’s head by Dickwella off Junaid was a shot of startling impudence and skill; Kusal Mendis oozed quality in a more orthodox manner.
However, Mendis was defeated by a lethal in-ducker from Hasan Ali and Dinesh Chandimal dragged his second ball on to his stumps. Now Angelo Mathews expertly resuscitated the innings alongside Dickwella so that Sarfraz summoned up his opening bowlers in tandem.
Mathews, maybe surprised by extra pace from Amir, was bowled off the inside edge; Dhananjaya de Silva nicked a beauty from Junaid, a fierce introduction to the tournament for a man who has only just been called up as a replacement for Kusal Perera. Next Dickwella was brilliantly caught by Sarfraz from an inside edge; the Pakistan captain was swamped by his colleagues in their excitement and in their recognition that this was an extraordinary one-handed take. Thisara Perera soon followed as the heart was ripped out of the Sri Lankan innings.
The Sri Lankan attack does not possess the same potency but theirs is a team of granite resolve. When Pakistan were 74 without loss in the 12th over the game seemed over. But some spirited bowling and panicky Pakistan batting soon put a stop to that notion.
At the start of the chase Fakhar, who has a licence to swing, drove lustily, taking three fours from a Lasith Malinga over with Azhar Ali a more watchful partner. Fakhar reached 50 from 34 balls and was promptly caught on the boundary. No matter; the older grafters would surely take Pakistan to their destination.
It is never that simple. Those grafters contrived to spoon and nick catches and the Sri Lankans under the calm leadership of Mathews started to believe. Pakistan plummeted to 137 for six with Sarfraz alone suggesting permanence. In came Fahim for his first international knock and the cricket acquired a technicolour tension. A bouncer from Malinga was hooked into the crowd by Fahim to get off the mark; another was top-edged wide of the long leg fielder. He was starting to enjoy this.
Perhaps the uncluttered novice would do the trick, as 25 runs were added rapidly. Then a firm straight drive from Sarfraz flicked the fingers of the bowler Perera before hitting the stumps. Fahim’s bat was over the line but not touching the turf and his dream was over.
Sarfraz and Amir stayed cool; Perera at mid-on then dropped a sitter after Malinga had duped Sarfraz, the biggest and most decisive mistake of an error-strewn yet rather magnificent match.
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