An excellent crowd of 55,052 was in attendance at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as Australia beat England by 33 runs on Saturday, also eliminating them from the World Cup in the process. The number was bigger than the turnout for the opening game (47,518) of the tournament between England and New Zealand at this very venue a month ago.
Adam Zampa was instrumental in Australia’s win- his quickfire 19-ball-29 helped them reach 286, his three wickets (including the key ones of Stokes and Ali) halted England just as they were threatening to take the game away, and he took an excellent late catch to end David Willey’s cameo with the bat.
After being asked to bat first, Australia Lost Travis Head (11) and David Warner (15) early to Chris Woakes. The pair of Steven Smith along with Marnus Labuschagne added 75 runs for the third wicket stand before the former perished to Adil Rashid for 44.
The Aussies lost wickets at crucial juncture, but Zampa’s 29 saw them recover from 247/8 to post a competitive 286 in their first innings.
In response, Mitchell Starc got his side off to a dream start by snaring Jonny Bairstow in the very first delivery for a golden duck. Joe Root’s poor run with the bat continued as he was dismissed for just 13.
Dawid Malan (50) and Ben Stokes (64) tried to anchor the chase before the former was dismissed by Pat Cummins. Jos Buttler’s horror run with the bat continued as he was dismissed for 1.
The likes of Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid and David Willey put up some fight but it was not enough as the former champions were bowled out for 253.
Zampa was adjudged the Player of the Match for his fine all round performance.