England on a mission to oust Australia

England effectively have nothing to play for against Australia at Edgbaston on Saturday after victory against New Zealand not only secured their Champions Trophy semi-final spot but also top place in Group A.

Yet the prospect of knocking their arch-rivals out of the tournament in an Ashes year is proving not only a tantalising prospect for English fans but also for captain Eoin Morgan as well.

Morgan, of course, won’t be taking part in the Ashes given he has not played Test cricket for five years.

He can do his bit to land an early psychological blow, though, with the help of Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood, Jos Buttler and the others in this one-day squad who will form the nucleus of the team who will face down Steve Smith’s men in the opening Ashes Test at The Gabba in November.

England know victory in Birmingham will eliminate the 2015 World Cup winners. And for Morgan that would be a huge statement. 

"We will have a very serious attitude,” he said of Saturday’s Edgbaston encounter against the Baggy Green. “We never take any position that we’ve ever been in for granted. 

"I think if we’re truly going to be contenders for this tournament, we need to beat the best teams. And Australia are one of the best teams.

"They always are going into a white-ball tournament. They seem to produce limited overs cricketers at will.

"So to go in to a game like that with no other attitude than winning is very important to us."

England will not be an easy proposition for Australia, especially as now they have their confidence sky high after partly justifying their pre-tournament favourite’s tag by becoming the first team to reach the semi-finals.

The hosts would be guaranteed top place in Group A even if Australia won Saturday’s Edgbaston match to move level with them on four points because of their number of wins, two, cannot be bettered by Smith’s team.

However, in perhaps another ominous sign for Australia, Morgan is in no mood to contemplate defeat or sit back and be satisfied with a place in the last four of the tournament.

"It feels good to be in the semis but we are not satisfied," he said. "We want to fulfil our potential. We have a lot of work to do."

Much of that work will be on the batting after England threw away a golden opportunity to rack up a genuinely huge total against New Zealand and instead posted what felt an under-par 310.

In the end that proved more than enough as the Black Caps were defeated by 87 runs.

But Morgan admitted: "We weren’t that pleased at halfway, we were maybe 20 or 30 short of par. I thought we would have got more.

"We fell away towards the end, which is disappointing but the fact that we’re still trying to win games with the bat, regardless of the situation that we’re in, I think is testament to the team. 

"We’re staying true to what we believe in and what we’ve achieved over the last couple of years."

For Australia that can be seen as another warning. If this England side play with that kind of freedom when under pressure, just how destructive can they be when there is none on their shoulders at Edgbaston?

We’ll find out at the weekend.

Champions Trophy 2017 Guide

Squads: Every Champions Trophy nation

Schedule

1 June – England beat Bangladesh by eight wickets

2 June – New Zealand v Australia, No Result

3 June – Sri Lanka lost to South Africa by 96 runs

4 June – India beat Pakistan by 124 runs

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, No Result

6 June – England beat New Zealand by 87 runs

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)

19 June – Reserve day (D)