Cricket news round-up – 12 July: England knock out Australia to make the World Cup final

England beat Australia by 8 wickets to reach the final of the ICC World Cup 2019; Jason Roy got fined for showing dissent towards umpire; Channel 4 will broadcast Word Cup final free-to-air; and India A beat West Indies A by 65 runs.

England make the World Cup final

England hammered Australia by 8 wickets to make their first World Cup final in 27 years and ensure that the Cup will have a new taker this year. They now meet New Zealand, who beat India in the first semi final, on July 14 at Lord’s.

Australia won the toss and battered first but their hopes of putting up a competitive total were hurt in the  first 10 overs when Chris Woakes dismissed David Warner and Peter Handscomb, and Jofra Archer got Aaron Finch to reduce the visitors to 14/3.

Steve Smith (85) and Alex Carey (46) then added 103 runs for the fourth wicket but once Carey holed out in the deep to Adil Rashid, the rest of the batsmen collapsed like a deck of cards. Marcus Stoinis (0), Glenn Maxwell (22), and Pat Cummins (6) couldn’t stay for long and even as Mitchell Starc (29) held his ground for a while, Australia were bowled out for 223. Woakes and Rashid got three wickets each.

In reply, Jason Roy led England’s counterpunch with a blitzkrieg 85 off just 65 balls and added 124 runs for the first wicket with Jonny Bairstow (34) to put England in the driver’s seat. Joe Root (49) and Eoin Morgan (45) finished the job in just 32.1 overs.

Roy fined for dissent

Jason Roy has been fined 30 per cent of his math fee for breaching Level One of the ICC Code of Conduct. Roy showed dissent towards the on-field umpire Kumar Dharamsena’s decision to give the batsman out caught down the leg side by Alex Carey.

“Roy was found to have breached Article 2.8 ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to showing dissent at an umpires decision in an international match. In addition to the 30% fine, two demerit points have been added to Roy’s disciplinary record,” an ICC statement read.

Replays showed there was a gap between the bat and ball, but since Bairstow had already used up England’s review, Roy had no option to but to walk back to the pavilion.

Channel 4 to broadcast World Cup final

The final of the 2019 World Cup final will be shown free-to-air in the UK after Channel 4 reached an agreement with Sky Sports. The World Cup had been broadcast on Sky, which is a subscription-based service, meaning all World Cup matches were behind a paywall. However, Sky had indicated that if England made the final the summit clash can be shown on free-to-air television.

“This is fantastic news for cricket fans and the nation,” said Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon. “This Sunday is a massive day for British sport with England tantalisingly close to lifting the Cricket World Cup for the first time and Lewis Hamilton setting his sights on his seventh season win at Silverstone – all live on Channel 4.”

India A beat West Indies A in Antigua

India A defeated West Indies A by 65 runs in the first unofficial ODI at Coolidge, Antigua. The visitors won the toss and batted first, but were bundled out for 190 as only Shreyas Iyer (77) could put up a score of substance. Roston Chase got 4/19 and Akeem Jordan got 3/43.

In reply, West Indies were skittled for 125 even as twin knocks of 41 by Johnathan Carter and Rovman Powell helped them recover from 30/4. But once Powell was dismissed, West Indies slid quickly from 95/5, even as Khaleel Ahmed got 3/16 and Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Rahul Chahar got two wickets each.