203 overs and five balls. That’s how long Australia’s Champions Trophy journey lasted. Out of a possible 300 overs in three matches, Australia ended up playing 96 short. Their No. 4 batsman had faced 14 balls in the first two matches combined and batsmen lower than that had not faced a single ball until Travis Head walked out to the middle at Edgbaston against England on Saturday. As it turned out, fittingly, rain had the final say for the Aussies. Their campaign was a damp squib, in more ways than one.

As Steve Smith and Co pack their bags and fly home, presumably encountering turbulence seeing as the dark clouds have followed them around, it’s not just the rain gods they’ll be cursing. The World Champions did not help their cause with a performance against their arch rivals that can best be described as anemic.

Smith said he would have batted first too after Eoin Morgan chose to bowl after winning the toss. It was a strange stratrgy since the forecast once again had rain and every one knows Messers Duckworth, Lewis and Stern are better friends of the chasing team. Perhaps Smith wanted to bat England out of the match, but going by the evidence of what came in the first 50 overs, it was not a plan with substance.

Tale of two batting collapses

David Warner’s torrid time in the middle continued but to be fair to him he was the only top order batsman who succumbed to an English bowler’s brilliance. Aaron Finch started like a man who wanted to bust the seam open on the white ball more than staying in the middle. He did end up steadying himself and put together a vital stand with captain Smith but before long, perished to a wild shot. Henriques, as useful an all-rounder as he is, is not an Australian No. 4. And it showed when he tried to slog Adil Rashid against the spin. The most disappointing of all the Australian dismissals was captain Smith’s. After reaching a patient 50, he played a nothing shot – something that one doesn’t associate with a man who likes to put a price on his wicket. He seemed to get into the shot early and ended up floating the ball straight to mid-off. It was a mini-collapse that pushed Smith & Co on the back-foot for the first time in the match.

While Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head consolidated, and looked to launch an assault at the end, they went from 239 for 5 to 254 for 9 in the space of five overs. It was one soft dismissal after another as no one but Travis kept their heads and played sensible cricket – once again, not something you’d associate with Australia in an ICC event, in a game of this magnitude.

Listless effort in the field

But this is Australia, the team that never gives up. The team that finds a way to win. And Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood went about their business early on. Two wickets in the first two overs and the in-form Joe Root in the sixth over – it was the perfect start for Australia. When the rains came for the first time in the day, England should have lost their top four. Morgan was dropped by Matthew Wade when he was on 12. It was a simple-enough chance had Wade gone in with both his hands, he over-dived, under-stretched and the result was a drop that perhaps cost Smith & Co their place in the semi-final.

And when the rains cleared, Morgan and Ben Stokes came out like men possessed. Australia lost the momentum, the head of steam they built in the first six overs, fizzed away. Morgan and Stokes, symbolising the fearlessness that has come to characterise the post-World Cup England, put together 159 runs. And during that partnership, Australia were Australia only in name and colour of the jersey they wore. The high-intensity that is their trademark was missing. There did not seem be any chirping. There was no energy in their effort.

Shane Warne almost sounded tired of pointing out how the Aussies were waiting for a mistake from the Englishmen, how the Englishmen were toying with the bowling, and how it was bewildering to see his team not push for wickets, push for the win.

The result? A crushing win for England and a well-deserved place in the semi-final for Bangladesh.
There were question marks over whether England would be motivated enough for this match. They had qualified for the final four top of the group and could very well have experimented or worse, taken it lightly. But they turned up full strength, mind and body, and dealt a body blow to their old foes. Morgan, who does not play for the England in the whites, said this was his Ashes and that he’d do everything to win. And his men lived up to that call.