England in trouble early in chase of 286

Sports Desk: Hosts England have fallen in trouble losing three wickets in just 26 runs in 5.5 overs.

Australian bowler Mitchell Starc and Jason Behrendorff rand through England’s top order to put Australia on top. The pair dismissed James Vince, Eoin Morgan and Joe Root.

Earlier, defending champions Australia posted 285 runs for seven wickets against England on Tuesday at Lord’s, featuring a splendid century by captain Aaron Finch.

England won the toss and opted to bowl first but Australia added 123 runs in the opening stand.

David Warner and Finch were aggressive from the start and passed the 100-run mark in 18 overs.

The opening stand was broken by Moeen Ali, who removed Warner for 53 off 61. The Australian opener regained top slot in scorer list with 500 runs in this edition of the World Cup. Along the way, he surpassed Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, who has so far scored 476.

Finch was firm on the other end of the wicket. He completed his century off 115 balls before getting dismissed by Jofra Archer.

Before Finch’s dismissal, Usman Khawaja fell for 23 off 23. Former Aussie captain Steve Smith came in at number four and scored 38 off 34.

Despite a brisk start, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals. Eventually, they ended up on 285 for seven wickets.

For England, Chris Woakes took two wickets for 46 runs while Archer, Mark Wood, Ben Stokes and Ali took one each.

risingbd/Dhaka/June 25, 2019/AKA