Aus vs Eng LIVE STREAMING

It's battle rejoined. Just in case there hadn't been enough of England facing Australia in recent months, the semi-final of the Champions Trophy has thrown together a rematch. There shouldn't be much these two sides don't know about each other, but the intrigue of this meeting is that it's a straight knockout. Most expected Australia to be here, but few imagined England would still be in the tournament.

For a while it looked as though Australia would blow their chance of progressing as the batting came to a screeching halt in their chase against Pakistan. However, Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz did just enough - Australia were through when they levelled scores off the penultimate ball - and another meeting with the old enemy was an added bonus.

Australia will bring with them memories of the 6-1 win in the recent one-day series, while England will say that result doesn't matter anymore. "We thrashed them the last time we played them," said Graeme Swann, England's team joker. The truth, as is often the case, lies somewhere in the middle. Australia clearly have the upper hand in recent contests, but England's resurgence since arriving in South Africa means they have a good chance of extracting revenge.

England may secretly be relieved that Australia scrambled the final bye, which meant they wouldn't have to face Pakistan's mixture of spin and reverse swing on a slow, wearing Centurion pitch. Not that Australia's attack will be easy, but at least there won't be any of the unknown. In fact, it's just the opposite. The teams probably know each other a little too well at the moment.


Form guide


(last five completed matches, most recent first)

England - LWWWL
Australia - WNWLW



Team news




England have concerns over Stuart Broad, who has a torn buttock muscle. He went for a scan and appeared in discomfort while the team trained in Centurion. If he misses out it will probably mean a recall for Graham Onions, but the loss of Broad's batting could allow Adil Rashid into the mix, especially given the spin-friendly conditions. Rashid may come into the permutations anyway as a replacement for Luke Wright. Meanwhile, Matt Prior took part in training but is still feeling the effects of his virus. Steven Davies remains on stand-by and England have ICC permission to draft him in as a replacement.

England (probable): 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Joe Denly, 3 Owais Shah, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Luke Wright, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Ryan Sidebottom, 11 James Anderson.


David Hussey has been called into the squad, but it would be asking a lot for him to play straight away. Australia are likely to retain the balance they used against Pakistan and will know what to expect from conditions.

Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Callum Ferguson, 6 Cameron White, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Hauritz, 11 Peter Siddle.



"England are playing some pretty good cricket of late, but we know their strengths and weaknesses and have been able to exploit them in the past. Now it is a matter of doing that again."
Ricky Ponting and his players are familiar with the opposition after spending the summer in England.

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