Australia crushed England by 64 runs at Lord’s on Tuesday to reach the last four of the Cricket World Cup.
Australian captain Aaron Finch made 100 to lead his team to a competitive but not imposing total of 285 for seven before England slumped to 26-3 in reply.
Ben Stokes defied a calf injury to make 89 but the hosts never seriously threatened to get close to their target, Jason Behrendorff picking up five wickets as they were bowled out meekly for 221 in the 45th over.
After being put into bat, Finch and David Warner (53) shared an opening partnership of 123, their fifth fifty stand in a row, but England restricted the Australian scoring rate with tight bowling in the closing overs of their innings.
Australia’s sixth win in seven games took the defending champions into the semi-finals while England, the pre-tournament favourites, have now lost three matches putting their last four hopes under threat.
What do England need?
With eight points from seven matches, England currently occupy the fourth and final qualifying place, but are only a point ahead of fifth-placed Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan, two and three points behind respectively, each have a game in hand.
Australia and New Zealand are four and three points clear of England respectively, while India, one point ahead, have two games in hand, leaving slim hope of England catching any of those three teams.
Wins in their final two group matches would guarantee England’s progress, though they face India and New Zealand.
Sri Lanka would be able to match their 12-point total but would have only five wins to England’s six – the first tie-breaker, ahead of net run rate.
One win and one defeat – or a pair of no-results – would leave England on 10 points and vulnerable to any of the three teams behind them, should Bangladesh win their last two games or Sri Lanka or Pakistan their remaining three.
Defeats to both India and the Black Caps would almost certainly see England eliminated.
To progress they would need Bangladesh to lose both games, or earn one point at most, with Sri Lanka also winning no more than once.
However, one of Bangladesh’s games is against Pakistan, who would need only need to win that and one more – perhaps against winless Afghanistan – to overtake England.
What has the England captain said?
England captain Eoin Morgan defended his team’s high-risk/high-reward mantra in the World Cup after another display of rash batting.
Despite being outclassed by Australia, Morgan believes the team has learned to adapt.
He said: “I think with this game and the last (defeat by Sri Lanka), we struggled with the basics of what we call our batting mantra.
“Strong intent, building partnerships, and doing it in our own way. I think our basics get challenged a lot more when we don’t play on batter-friendly wickets.”
Asked if there had been any discussion of changing that “mantra” of relentless attack as the wickets have tumbled early, Morgan added: “It’s always evolving.
“I don’t know if you’ve watched the last two years of the way that we’ve played but it’s evolved quite a lot.”