Stokes smashed a brilliant century against Australia on Saturday. Image Source: ICC[/caption]Internet Desk: England made it three wins out of three in their 2017 ICC Champions Trophy campaign with a thrilling 40-run win by D/L Method over old adversary Australia at Edgbaston - a win that knocked their opponents out of the competition.
Having already qualified for the semi-finals, the pressure was off Eoin Morgan's side and they played some magnificent cricket with bat and ball to maintain the tournament's only remaining 100% record.
Asking Australia to bat after winning the toss, England pegged Steve Smith's men back with some exceptional bowling in the later stages of the innings, Adil Rashid (4/41) and Mark Wood (4/33) performing heroics to keep the Aussies down to 277/9 when they had been 239/4 in the 43rd over.
England were reduced to 6/2 and 35/3 in reply, but after a short rain break they came out firing, with captain Morgan (87 off 81) and Ben Stokes (102* off 108) putting on 159 in 26.1 overs in a stand of spectacular shot-making and brutal hitting as they reached 240/4 from 42.4 overs when the heavens opened, the hosts at that stage 40 runs ahead of the required rate.
The overhead conditions were always a danger in Birmingham on Saturday, with the Australians all too aware of the weather around having had their Group A games against New Zealand and Bangladesh already wrecked by the English rain.
Anything other than victory would ensure Bangladesh's progression at their expense and if they needed a good start it was denied them when Wood, who made things happen all day with the ball, found the edge of David Warner's bat, Jos Buttler doing the rest to get rid of the left-hander for 21.
Aaron Finch had scores of 8 & 19 in Australia's two no-results, but he finally found some form in tandem with skipper Smith, the pair putting on 96 to take them up to 136/1 in the 23rd over, a score way over 300 looming with England struggling to find a breakthrough.
It was Rashid, however, whose introduction changed the game. He bamboozled Finch a couple of times before the opener tried a big expansive drive off Stokes and was caught impressively over his shoulder by Morgan for 68, before Rashid struck himself, the unconvincing Moises Henriques shovelling the ball straight to Liam Plunkett at mid-on for 17.
Travis Head joined Smith out in the middle, but with Rashid limiting scoring opportunities and Wood back on for his second spell, the Australian captain - who had looked in cruise control until that moment - had an inexplicable lapse in concentration, chipping a half-volley straight to Plunkett to fall for 56, Smith shaking his head in bewilderment as he trudged back to the pavilion.
Head and Glenn Maxwell managed to get the score up to 239 without further damage, but what followed was an astonishing spell of 5/15 in 26 balls that ripped the heart out of their batting line-up.
Jason Roy was the catalyst this time, taking an outrageous catch on the mid-wicket boundary to get rid of Maxwell for 20 off Wood, snaffling the ball millimetres inside the ropes, throwing the ball in the air as his momentum carried him backwards, and then stepping back inside to complete the dismissal.
It was a wonderful moment that brought the crowd to life and England capitalised clinically, with Rashid getting rid of Matthew Wade (2), Mitchell Starc (0) and Pat Cummins (4) and Wood cleaning up Adam Zampa for 0.
Head was witnessing carnage at the other end but kept his, clubbing two late sixes in an unbeaten 71 off 64 balls to get Australia up to 277/9, which soon looked defendable when Roy was LBW to Starc for 4 and Alex Hales was caught at slip by Finch off Josh Hazlewood for 0 to leave England reeling on 6/2.
Joe Root and Morgan led a mini-recovery before Root nicked Hazlewood behind for 15 and when the first band of rain hit Birmingham, England were 35/3 and in all sorts of bother.
They needn't have worried. After a 40-minute delay Morgan, king of the counter-punch, crashed the first two balls after the restart from Starc for four through the covers, and soon Australia were on the back foot as the sun briefly shone and England's classy left-handers put their old foes to the sword.
Morgan was breathlessly brilliant, twice hoiking a bamboozled Hazlewood over the fence for six, before Stokes followed his captain's lead, dismissing Cummins to the fence twice in succession before playing a dreamy drive straight down the ground for four, England reaching 100/3 in the 15th over as Edgbaston came to life again, the Hollies Stand as usual the epicentre of patriotic cheers, pantomine jeers and too many beers.
Stokes smashed Starc for six to bring up his 50 and Morgan soon followed, the 100 partnership coming up off only 93 balls when the captain greeted Maxwell's introduction by larruping him into the crowd for another maximum.
It was a joy to behold, watching an England team play with such verve and expression against their oldest foe, and when Stokes bludgeoned two huge sixes off leg-spinner Zampa and Morgan danced down the track to launch Hazelwood for a giant six into the second tier, their victory march appeared unstoppable.
Morgan finally perished when he was run out by a superb direct hit from Zampa at mid-on, but Buttler picked up where he left off and Stokes completed a genuinely masterful hundred with a ferocious cut shot off Zampa that bulleted for four and brought a standing ovation from his adoring fans.
They were probably cheering in Dhaka, too, when heavier rain took the players off again just one ball later and they never returned, the match finally abandoned at 6.34pm as Australia's hopes of winning the Champions Trophy for a third time disappeared.
England march on to the semi-finals and Cardiff on Wednesday. They will find out their opponents when the final Group B game is played on Monday.
Courtesy: ECB
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