England gambled after a 48-run PowerPlay by bringing in their fifth bowling combination of Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali ahead of the lead spinner and that was an invitation for the Australia batting pair to transfer the pressure back onto the bowling side. Both Smith and Labuschagne picked up a boundary each of Moeen’s first over and moved into the 30s forcing Rashid’s introduction.

The legspinner, one of the team’s brightest prospects in a forgettable campaign, struck in just his second over when Smith went chasing after a cleverly floated up delivery outside off-stump. Smith fell six short of a half-century and Rashid quickly added the wicket of Josh Inglis in the next over to force Australia into another period of rebuilding.

Cameron Green and Labuschagne provided just that while picking up the regular boundary against the fifth bowler. Green even got two boundaries off a Mark Wood over before the fast bowler hit back in his next over to break the stand by nipping a pacy delivery back into Labuschagne. Australia’s No.4, who made 71 off 83, took back a review with him. Another period of rebuilding followed as Green and Marcus Stoinis took the team to 220/5 at the 40th over. But Australia’s launch had to be delayed as Green fell immediately thereafter to the returning David Willey, who slipped a full delivery under his attempted slog sweep.

When Stonis fell for 35 right after hitting Livingstone for a six and a four in the 44th over, Australia faced the prospect of folding well below the 50th over. But a key cameo from Adam Zampa (29 off 19) ensured Australia missed out on only three balls of their available quota to finish with a solid total against a struggling opponent, who have chased only two scores above 250 in World Cup history.

Brief scores:
Australia 286 in 49.3 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 71, Cameron Green 47, Steven Smith 44, Marcus Stonis 35, Adam Zampa 29; Chris Woakes 4-54, Adil Rashid 2-38, Mark Wood 2-70) vs England