World Cup 2023: Defending champions England exit the tournament, lose by 33 runs to Australia

England exited the ODI World Cup 2023 with a whimper as arch-rivals Australia came out trumps against the defending champions by 33 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday (Nov 4) evening. Chasing a challenging target of 287, the English side never looked in contention and succumbed, courtesy of a disciplined bowling effort from the Australians, led by Adam Zampa.

England had a horror start to the chase as Jonny Bairstow departed fora nought on the first delivery from Mitchell Starc. The left-arm seamer darted a loosener down the leg and Bairstow gifted a tickle which was gleefully accepted by Josh Inglis with his big mitts, behind the sticks.

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Bairstow's dismissal was emblematic of the kind of tournament England have had where they often find themselves struggling, even before the competition has started to simmer.

In at no. 3 and entrusted with the opportunity to steer the tottering ship, Joe Root failed for the umpteenth time in the tournament and could not last beyond the first powerplay.

Captain Jos Buttler's poor run of form continued and he departed while attempting to up the ante. Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes did hit a few big ones at the back end but the Australians came up with answers quickly to shut down the window of opportunity.

Zampa was exceptional as he finished off his 10 overs quota with envious figures of 10-0-21-3 and took a brilliant catch in the deep to guide Australia to another victory, their fifth on the trot this World Cup.

Australia crawl to a challenging total

After winning the toss, England captain Jos Buttler opted to bowl first on a pitch that was slightly two-paced. The decision seemingly paid off as the Australian openers, for the rare occasion in this tournament, departed without adding much to the score.

Chris Woakes and David Willey hit the right areas from the get-go in the powerplay and the former used that to snap the wickets of both openers. Travis Head fell in the second over, miscuing a guide to third man while an in-form Warner was outfoxed by a brilliant off-cutter from the pacer.

Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne stitched a healthy partnership to bring Australia back into the contest before Adil Rashid challenged Smith to go down and pay the heavy price for it. In the end, Englnd did well to apply a chokehold on the Australian batting lineup. If it wasn't for a 10-ball 29-run cameo from Zampa at the death, the five-time champions wouldn't have reached the 280-run mark.

With the win, Australia have given themselves the much-needed cushion to qualify for the knockouts. They are comfortably perched at the third spot on the points table with five wins in seven games and would require another victory to seal a place in the semis.