Arch-rivals England and Australia met in the warm-up game, in what was a precursor to the main draw of the ICC World Cup 2019. England won the toss and chose to field first, as Australia looked to gain a mental advantage on the hosts who are the favorites to win the tournament.

Mark Wood dismissed Aaron Finch for 14, but Warner (43) and Shaun Marsh (30) added 63 runs for the second wicket before Plunkett removed both. However, former skipper Steve Smith (116) and Usman Khawaja (31) gave the innings some impetus and Australia ended up making 297/9. Liam Plunkett picked 4/69, while Mark Wood left the field after bowling 3.1 overs, due to some problem in his calf. In other news, Jofra Archer hurt himself while fielding at the boundary and left immediately.

Things got so bad for the English that even one of their assistant coaches, 43-year-old Paul Collingwood donned England kit once again and fielded for some overs.

In reply, Jason Behrendorff picked two wickets, that of Bairstow (12) and James Vince (64), while Jason Roy made 32. Jason Buttler too played a captain’s knock making 52 in just 31 balls, but the Australian bowlers struck back to leave England 203/5 in 35 overs.

Chris Woakes scored 40 and Moeen Ali made 22 to inch England towards victory, but Australia continued to pick at wickets with Kane Richardson picking 2/51 and Stoinis bowling brilliantly at the death and picking one wicket as well. 

Australia won the match by 12 runs.

BRIEF SCORES:
AUS 297/9 (S SMITH 116; L PLUNKETT 4/69) defeated ENG 285 (J VINCE 64; J BEHRENDORFF 2/43) by 12 runs