The 12-month bans on Steve Smith and David Warner
for ball tampering have ended,
but there are still questions about how they will be received
by the current Australian squad.
The former captain and his deputy will not only be without leadership roles,
they will also have to earn their spots in an in-form team
that's embraced a new culture.
First, welcome back, Smith... Smithy and Davey.
It's great to have you back.
Cape Town.
What do we do? It's a dark time. It's a dark time for everyone.
Everyone in this room, it should be a really dark time.
OK? What do we do about it?
Well, we learn from it.
We learn from it.
And we're going to make Australian cricket awesome again
and keep moving forward and getting better, OK?
In the last 12 months, I've had a lot of reflecting to do
with cricket and what happened in the past
and about getting better as a team person as well.
I think from looking outside in,
you can tell the whole team itself as a we
has grown a lot.
How...how we've been accepted the last 24 hours, basically, you know?
I don't really feel like I left, to be honest.
You know, there was no unease or anything like that.
It was back to, like, you know, it's like I went out of the team yesterday
and came back today.
From a personal point of view,
it's...it's been a pretty hard 12 months, to be honest.
And I've had times throughout the year where
I didn't even really want to come back and play, to be perfectly honest.
And it probably wasn't until I got my brace off my arm a few weeks ago
where I said, "Shit, I'm ready to go."
Like, "I want to play again."
Going to England for a World Cup, I know what to expect.
It's going to be incredibly hostile.
And I think for us over in the UK
just maybe like reading our body language.
If we're feeling a bit down with, um, sort of external things,
just throw an arm around us and making sure we're in a good headspace.
Keep the bat there and spin your head around to me now.
They are a cut above the average cricketer,
but if you spend a year out of doing anything,
you may potentially lose some of your edge.
So there was a question about
how badly that hiatus had interfered with their skill set.
You bring two world-class players back into the side,
it gives guys around you a lot of confidence
and it brings a little bit more fear factor to the opposition.
The crowds will be all over them
because the first games they play
are the biggest international one-day games on the calendar,
in England, where the crowds can be very, very hostile.
What we're going to do
is gonna put the cricket kit away for a few days.
We're going on a journey of understanding.
We're gonna learn a little bit about
what another mob of young Australians did
when they went on their tour of duty.
What an experience. Gallipoli was unbelievable.
Where we're actually sitting now is where the landing occurred.
So, first light on the 25th, the men look up
and this is exactly what they're faced with -
getting up here.
So many people talk about the Australian culture
and their identity being found in that Gallipoli campaign.
We'd just newly federated,
so it kind of felt like it was a link to us players.
We're a newish side going off overseas,
trying to still find our identity.
And didn't have to look too much further than all the great traits
a lot of those diggers had over there.
We know that wealth and the size of a country doesn't matter.
But what really matters is the character of its citizens,
the character of people who represent it -
that's what matters.
The vision for us isn't just to win games of cricket.
For me, the most exciting thing
is developing great cricketers and great people,
and great people means great leaders.
So the more we can give these guys the opportunity
to be mentored by great people,
the more positive that is for Australian cricket.
In combat, soldiers live and die by the creed of mateship.
I think mateship, um...
..it's the reason why I play cricket.
It's about going above and beyond to care after a mate.
If he's had a hard day, if he's struggling on or off the field.
And I think it's a big area where we can probably get better at.
I think there's a difference between mates and friends.
And I think we're really fortunate in this group
to have a lot of friends,
but not everyone's going to get on like Zamps and Stoin, for example.
But I think for me, mateship is when you cross that line,
you're playing for each other.
We're gonna have our challenges over in England, no doubt.
Just knowing that whatever happens, we've all got each other's backs.
And it's the bad days that we've got to stay together and stick together
and do whatever we can for each other.
And...if we do that,
we're gonna give us every chance to be there on July 12th.
And that's what we want so badly.
We know how to play one-day cricket. We're really proud of it.
This is where you actually pit yourself
against every team in one tournament.
Such a great history.
You know, we've won four of the last five.
Australia have won the World Cup of 2007.
The World Cup is obviously the pinnacle of one-day cricket
and, as a player,
to represent Australia on the biggest stage is unbelievable.
I think everyone from my era, Ricky Ponting is one of their...one of their heroes.
Two-time World Cup winning captain, three-time player,
and someone who rose to the occasion every time the game was on the line.
He's one of the best of the best, that's what Ricky Ponting is.
And in that comes not just skill, but character.
He's tough.
Everything that we talk about in the elite people of Australian cricket,
he ticks every box.
- Late on tour. - Late on tour?
What's going on?
When I was working at West Australia,
I always had a saying up on my wall in my office.
"I never went to Harvard, but I employ a lot of people who did."
And guys like Ricky,
they are Harvard graduates of the greatest ilk.
How are you, mate?
I'll sit next to you so I can get on the doco.
He's been on my back for 12 or 18 months,
to get involved, back involved in Australian cricket.
And, look, I love it.
We are very, very close.
And, look, to be totally honest, if it wasn't him coaching that World Cup squad,
I mightn't have gone back and been around the team.
The game's in my blood and coaching's in my blood
and trying to make people better
is what I get a lot of joy out of.
Try and improve people, that's what coaching's all about.
So I'm not going to let a minute go by or a training session go by
where if I think something's not quite right,
that I'm not going to put in the time myself to fix it.
The thing that you have to... with your timing
is getting that right with your feet moving at the same time.
The best thing about him is he's so humble.
When he's around the team,
he's just like another... he's like another lad.
That bounced...that actually bounced a bit, that one.
The energy he brings to the room, and the passion.
He's inspiring.
When he goes to training, he's just throwing balls
and he looks like he's having the most fun ever.
If you stand like that and then if your back knee goes that way at all...
..where does that make everything else go?
That makes me go to mid-wicket.
So your hands and your bat automatically go further out there.
So it's OK for you to stand that way, but have that knee flexed...
I think if someone knows a topic really, really well,
they can simplify it easily,
and he does that.
Just breaks it down to one or two little things,
gives you real clarity,
and suddenly you go, "Oh! Easy!"
You know, "I'm batting like Ponting now."
He's just got a brain just built for cricket.
If Punter says it, it's right. It has to be right.
It's Punter. That's just the Punter effect.
It doesn't matter what...what sport we're talking about.
If you're talking about a drop punt in AFL,
and you've got Alex Carey who's played AFL teaching us or Punter, I'm going with Punter.
- There we go! - Yes, Garry!
Thanks, Punter.
Genius.
Righto, everyone here?
Probably a good opportunity just quickly
to go through all the players, to see where they're at.
Finchy. I know they're training tomorrow.
But everyone happy with where Finchy's at at the moment?
- In a pretty good space, isn't he? - Very good.
Usi - travelling OK?
Excellent.
Good shape. Training well. Really happy with where he's at.
Carey? How's he going?
His batting's good. He's got his mind set around what he's got to do at seven, so...
- He's pretty good. - He's amazing. He's improving.
He's getting better at that back end too.
Davey. A couple of things on Davey.
He's still a bit rusty with his batting, I reckon.
Some better signs yesterday, but just looks a bit rusty.
Just needs to spend a bit of time,
get some throws, get his feet moving a bit.
Smithy looks really good, doesn't he?
- Mm. - Jesus.
I had the first net session and I was throwing balls to Steve Smith
and I've got this smile on my face.
Mate, I know he's good, but I was just watching it with my own eyes.
I thought, "Phwoar, he's coming back into our team? We'll take him!"
Nice, Smudger.
That's when I started thinking,
"We might go alright here."
Hey.
Can you give us an idea of what it's like
to have Steve and Dave back in the squad properly?
It's really nice having them back.
They've had 12 months to have a good think about a mistake they and the team made
and I'm sure they'll be better people for that.
Those two guys, are they the type of characters who will be fired up more than anything
by any kind of adverse crowd reaction or heckling or booing or whatever it is?
The boys are very well prepared. They've paid a heavy price.
We're expecting always to come here and to face the fire and we're ready for that.
- Thank you. - Thanks.
Going down.
- How are you, Phil? - Alright, mate.
I'm not one to really get nervous.
I never really have throughout my whole career, regardless of game situations or scenarios.
I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to be back playing for Australia, that's for sure.
But I really just think of it as another game of cricket.
Australia versus Afghanistan. First match.
Australia, of course, ex-world champions.
They know how to win the world titles.
This will be the first time that Steve Smith and David Warner
have played in front of an English crowd since they served their bans for ball tampering.
Batting for Australia, number five, Aaron Finch, and number 31, David Warner.
Yeah, I hated it. I hated it.
I think it's ignorant. I think it's disrespectful.
But it made me really angry to start off.
There's not one person who was booing who hasn't made a mistake in their life.
So good to have David Warner back in this team.
Obviously being out of the team for such a long period of time,
he'll be looking to start this World Cup with a bang.
Oh, trouble here for David Warner.
Didn't have a clue where that ball was.
Wait, wait!
Sent a lot of balls to the fieldsmen today, David Warner.
You have this expectation of high scores when you go to England.
And then you go out there and you bat
and I was struggling to hit the ball in the middle.
It's just a bit of a battle at the moment for David Warner.
It was a hard sort of thing because I was battling my demons, just going, well, I usually...
I can hit boundaries fluently, I can take the guys over top,
but I don't know if it's something in my mind or something that's telling me I can't do that.
At different times, probably both of us had to hold each other back
from not jumping over the fence and getting in amongst the crowd
and shutting a few of them up, to be honest.
And given.
Khawaja's got to go. Smith to the crease.
Smith and Warner batting together again for Australia.
For me it actually makes me think, I must be some kind of a threat perhaps
if they're booing me and want me to fail.
So I kind of take a bit of joy in the fact that they're doing it and use it to motivate me.
When I'm out in the middle and batting and I get in that zone, it's kind of like my happy place,
where I feel, like, untouchable in a way, if that kind of makes sense.
He's a run-making machine in any format, Steve Smith.
Both boys did really well. They handled themselves brilliantly.
Davey to get 89 not out just sealed the win.
He was struggling at the start. It felt like... I know he felt like he couldn't hit it.
Well done to Australia.
It is a good start to their campaign, and they win by seven wickets.
Cheat! Cheat! Cheat! Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!
With all the distractions I'll say this to you and Smudge particularly,
it's more a reflection of them, not you.
OK, and the way you hung in there today and got us over the line, took us deep, won the game for us,
that was a brilliant effort.
Man, it wasn't unexpected, the reaction. It's funny, actually. It turned into a bit like...
You know what, they can do what they want.
They don't know Steve or Dave. They don't know us.
I don't really care.
They're two very different people, but when you get them on the field, like most of us,
extremely competitive, they just go about it differently.
Shot! Hallelujah.
There's so much perception of what Davey Warner is like.
It's like having Floyd Mayweather in your team. It's classic.
The way he plays, he's got energy, loves playing cricket.
He's a gun player and he's a little smart-arse.
Actually, I'll take this one.
- You can't... - Mate, what do you mean? I can.
- Put it back. - I can.
We're gonna get more anyway sent.
I like how you help your teammates out.
Me? I am the most generous person.
Oh, you gave me one bat. Thanks.
Davey's Davey. Nothing fazes him. He knows everything.
You could be talking about the price of cars,
if you're looking to purchase a car, he'll know everything. So...
He's good value. I like Davey, just the way he goes about it.
He's resilient and he wants to be the best. And then you look at Steve.
Steve Smith's weird, mate.
All he wants to do is bat.
He bats in the shower, he bats in the corridor, he bats in the lunchroom, he bats...
Mate, like, he just wants to bat.
It's just relentless but it's unbelievable to watch,
and it's no secret why he's the best,
because he lives and breathes it.
Nice, mate!
I've been at the pub with him and suddenly he just starts shadow-batting in the middle of the pub.
I'm like, "Mate, come on. Just let go of cricket for two minutes."
Someone like him, how do you argue with his preparation?
He is one of the all-time great players.
What I do know over time is that everyone prepares differently and you've got to trust that.
For me, the less I do, the better. That's my biggest thing.
Almost feeling like you're underdone.
- 100%. - I used to be the same.
That's the biggest thing I learned in the last 12 months was just...
..like, giving yourself that time.
It's almost like...
You know you've done the work over the years, so you're not losing it.
Yeah.
So for myself to get myself ready, my preparation, you don't want it to come across to look lazy.
I know it's not lazy and other people have trained the same way as well.
That's why I said to JL the other day, he asked me, what was up?
I said, "Nothing's up. Just the fact that I don't like going into..."
So, I'll have a net session against someone.
But then leading into the game, I don't need to face them.
Doing stuff like this and this is good.
I won't normally hit this much before a proper game, but I'll just work on 20 minutes
of solid hitting the ball over the middle and making sure I'm just fresh.
Yeah.
Thanks, mate.
# In joyful strains, then, let us sing
# Advance Australia fair. #
That's brilliant! That is magnificent.
Finch has gotta go.
Another one gone!
The West Indies' brute pace bowling unsettled Australia,
and if you lose one of those pool games early, your World Cup campaign can drain away.
Steve Smith now starting to stamp his authority.
Mentally tough teams win the ones they should win.
The way the boys fought back in that game was brilliant.
Nathan, of course, got 90.
This sounds so obvious,
but unless you're winning games and end up in the top four, mate, you're not winning the final.
So every single game is important.
The highlight of my whole day was the national anthem.
I'm actually not joking.
Because we're seeing it.
Everyone is against us. Everyone.
Doesn't matter who we play. We played West Indies and you guys stay together.
You sing the national anthem like that, you celebrate like that, you stick together,
and I'm telling you, everyone in Australia's feeling it as well.
So the national anthem set the scene.
'Cause you're gonna have to stick together,
and good teams stick together when the pressure comes on, and you did that today.
This is a huge game and in terms of quality of cricketers,
this is probably the biggest game of the World Cup.
And I think whichever team wins it will send a strong message to everyone.
They're a great team.
The upside is we know we can beat them because we beat them in India a few months before,
so that's the heartening side of it.
Let's go, boys. Have a good day.
Away we go!
Oh! It's put down.
That's a beautiful shot.
And they've just got incredible batsmen that just play the game so beautifully.
It's like the Harlem Globetrotters.
Just over the keeper.
And he'll put that in the gap.
Doesn't matter where the gap was, because it sailed over.
That's a terrific shot.
That flies over point. Virat Kohli gets going.
The Australians now, they have to worry about this a bit.
Maybe not a bit, maybe a little bit more.
COMMENTATOR 2 : And India, they bring up 350.
Australia will need 353 for victory.
It's gonna be a hell of a run chase for Australia.
Nothing changed, OK? We're right in this.
Fast outfield, beautiful wicket, we're right in the hunt.
Let's be up and ready for the hunt.
We know we can easily score 90 plus in the last 10 overs here. Easy.
And Warner and Finch are gonna have to start well.
Someone's got to go deep.
That sounded good off the bat. They'd be looking for two. But...
Oh, just about get it. Just about get it.
And Finch is starting to walk.
The communication, the hesitation.
The Australian captain, he will be fuming.
Aaron Finch was looking really good - 36 off 35 -
and he's charging off without a look at his colleague.
Now back with Warner. How much has that affected him?
I feel like I've got no rhythm. I feel like I've got no timing.
The only thing I can think of is I've got a fear of getting out, and that's not how I play.
I play with a free mind, a clear mind, and back myself all the time.
It just felt like I had this sort of...
..I don't know, something was over me.
And Warner finds the man at deep mid-wicket.
David Warner has got to go.
No, it's never easy chasing 350.
We fell a bit short. We had a crack at it.
Bowled.
And he's gone.
Has he picked him out? He has. He has.
It's a win to India, by 36 runs.
Alright, boys. Obviously the result didn't go our way.
They're obviously a very good team but they got the better of us for a lot of it.
There's areas we can tighten up in.
I think from the batting side point of view, I was quite rattled after I got...
..after they run out Finchy.
I felt like I had a fear of getting out. I didn't feel like I...
I didn't feel like I could take that risk.
If you're scared about getting out, fuck that.
You've got to be thinking about getting runs, not be worried about making mistakes.
I've been there. You start thinking about making mistakes as a player, you're fucked.
At the end of the day, all of you have got nothing to fear, nothing to lose right now.
We haven't got the World Cup.
All you've got is things to gain, things to win.
You need to think that way.
You are the best cricket team in the tournament, alright?
If you keep holding back and being fearful of things, it's just gonna get harder and harder.
Keep backing yourself, backing your skills,
and imposing yourself on the game when the opportunity presents itself.
Like a few of us did today.
There's some good stuff there.
They're a good side. Yes. No better than us.
And we'll show that in a couple days' time, I reckon, against our next opponents.
It just really hit me after he spoke about that because when you're in a team environment
and you're giving feedback in front of a group, it can be quite confronting sometimes,
and it really hit me and I was just like, OK, I'll take that on board.
Massive game coming up.
It is Australia against Pakistan,
and all eyes have been on David Warner for any number of reasons in this World Cup.
It's pretty incredible watching Dave at times.
He makes batting look so easy sometimes and he makes it look really difficult at others.
And Warner... Why isn't there a flow?
Why isn't there a strike rate at the moment?
I knew I had it in me. Just...
How it was gonna happen because I was so slow and a bit tentative.
And they're the times when I sort of just gathered my own thoughts and started singing to myself
and just relaxing a little bit.
I've always got a nursery rhyme or something in my head that I'm just thinking about or whatnot,
just takes me to a bit of a happy place.
Nicely played.
That's what you really want to see from Warner. If he's in good nick, that's the way he plays.
And I just chanced my arm a bit.
I played a few shots, got a good couple of cover drives away.
Looks on today, Warner. Nice and aggressive.
It's just like, OK, I'm in here. Sorta just ignited the spark and fight into me again.
Has it gone long enough?
It has. He'll pick up a six off a free hit.
Because he can be so destructive in such a short space of time, he can turn it on in an over,
and then once he gets away you can't stop him.
Well played.
That's a nice shot.
Another beautiful shot.
Oh, beautiful.
David Warner is ecstatic.
101 not out.
That means the world to him.
To get that hundred and sort of announce himself back into international cricket
and make a real statement himself on the World Cup was incredible.
To see him go out and perform as well as he did with all that pressure,
the boos, the jeers from the crowd,
it was us against the rest of the world and he made sure he was the man for us.
He's gone!
Australia win by 41 runs.
We've had some unbelievable individual performances, which has been great.
David, welcome back with your hundred, mate.
Australia's starting to ride their confidence into this fixture.
That's away. Boom, Aaron Finch.
Ah, good shot.
Warner.
Beautiful.
Warner's in really good form by this stage.
In fact, it's all being done at the top of the order.
Warner and Finch are guiding the Australians to big scores and a sense of confidence.
And Australia have done it.
Well done!
Khawaja.
Yes!
Beautiful shot.
Great shot.
What a shot that is.
David Warner gets a century.
Another brilliant performance. Second hundred in this World Cup.
A victory to Australia by 48 runs.
Brothers in arms.
And in all of that, Australia now go to the top of the table.
We knew the top four batters had to score hundreds for us. They all did.
But what I did know for us to win the tournament, we couldn't have any passengers.
I think...
..if we turn all our attention to England now, we should focus on that,
but there might be a few things that we can do to beat England.
I reckon we've got to go after them and try and get them out in their first 10 balls.
Yep.
Don't let them come out and dictate and play the way they want to.
We will fucking set fields and go after each one of them.
All of you have probably got some ideas about how we can be a little unorthodox.
I know our two key bowlers are Starc and Cummins,
and that's certainly worth putting up against them.
But if we happen to go with another left arm pace bowler, that's worth considering as well.
We knew every bit of data for the last five years tells us they struggle, most of their batters,
struggle against left armers.
We could then open with a Behrendorff.
Left arm matches up well,
and Starky and Cummo might have to realise the reason we're doing this is what you said -
we've got to get them out, we've got to beat them.
Not just let the game flow.
Yeah. I personally think you could start with both left-armers.
'Cause that's our best match-up, is left-armers against them.
I reckon we have to be a bit more daring. Nothing to be scared of.
Nothing to lose. Just fucking go after them.
Very good, yep.
Really great part about the one-day preparation phase
is you can be so specific in what you want to practise, and it's all about that execution.
Cummo's our best setter. Let's watch where this lands.
- There you go. Straight on. - Good boy, Winksy!
Bowler coach set up a couple of cones on the batting crease
and we'd have a little tally system.
So we might get 12 balls each.
Oh, well bowled.
And then you had a cone in the middle on the front crease.
That was 1A.
That was five points if you hit the cone.
- Oh, Starky! - Five pointer.
It's basically just trying to put a little bit more pressure on yourself
of nailing those yorkers.
Come on, Jase. You can do this. Keep this up.
It's catchy. That's contagious.
For me as a left-arm swing bowler, that's just about the perfect ball that I try and bowl
just about all the time.
No blue-bagger.
It doesn't work all the time but that's what I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to swing the ball back and hit the stumps.
For me the mindset, especially in tournament play, is that you know you're gonna get a chance
at some point and you know you're gonna need to be at your best when you get that chance.
And it's tough not playing, because that's what you want to do.
You're there to play cricket and you always want to be in the team,
so for me it was always about making sure every training session had a purpose,
for the reason that I know that I'm gonna be called on at some stage
and I'm gonna be ready to go when I get that call.
- Perfect. - Nice, Starky.
- That's a wicket for you, as we know. - Best in the world at that.
One of the best in the world.
Starky and I could be opening the bowling together,
and it doesn't happen very often, two left-armers doing it,
and for me, thinking about that, I was like, "How good is this?"
What an opportunity to bowl at the other end with Mitch Starc.
Oh, Dorf, that's a great way to finish, son.
- Great way to finish, Dorf. - That's an 11.
- That probably wins the game. - It's an 11, my arse.
What do you mean, mate? I've hit all three.
- Nice, Dorf. Is that your last one? - Yeah.
When you get the World Cup draw, the first game, OK, where do we play England?
Alright, we're playing them at Lord's.
There's a reason why they've been number one in the world for a few years.
The way they play their game, it's a very fearless and aggressive style.
They back that one or two of their batters are gonna come off,
and if that's the case, then they're gonna score 300 plus on most occasions.
What reception do you expect Steve Smith and David Warner to get?
I'm not expecting anything.
I think fans and supporters up and down the country
will have different reactions, as they will around the world.
So, yeah, let's just see.
Do you see it as your role in any way
to give any kind of indication or instruction to the crowd
about how they should behave with the Australians?
No. No.
Cameras are out. It's such a big occasion here at Lord's.
England against Australia.
Will answer some questions today, I think, this game.
And Australia will answer the questions
whether the revival that we've seen in the last 12 months is for real.
Smart batting.
They've had to absorb a lot of pressure, Australia,
in the first 10 overs in particular.
But now they're starting to apply pressure themselves.
Another four to Aaron Finch.
Smashed.
So impressive what we're seeing from the openers once again.
So Finch sets Australia up against England,
but they don't get everything that they might have got.
Don't think there's enough on this.
Archer.
Frustration for Smith, and these wickets are tumbling now.
After a bright start, Australia can't find the acceleration they need.
Australia continuing to lose wickets when they can't afford to.
Australia finish on 285/7.
285 against England, you're gonna have to bowl and field very well,
and particularly take early wickets.
Finch's first decision was who to give the new ball to.
He's given it to Behrendorff.
To walk out on Lord's to play cricket for Australia,
staring back looking at the old pavilion there...
..um...
..scary stuff.
What, Jason Behrendorff's gonna open and not Pat Cummins?
My heart's pumping because you know if it comes off, no-one will say anything.
But if it doesn't, they're gonna bag you. They're gonna slam you.
Oh, he's bowled him.
Brilliant start from Behrendorff.
It was near on the perfect ball that I wanted to bowl.
That swing there, it's gone through Vince's defences.
What a start for Australia.
To be able to execute something that you've worked so hard at
for such a long period of time and to have it come off, there's not many better feelings.
Fantastic start for Australia, and Behrendorff now the key man. Root at the crease.
This is the one we need.
Jase got us off to great start with that wicket in the first over,
and I think that sort of set the tone for the bowling innings for us.
Here goes Starc.
Ohh! He's played that differently then. See that?
Bowling second and seeing how they bowled on the Lord's wicket,
they were quite a bit shorter than we thought they might bowl and what we wanted to bowl,
so it was great for us to see that and go,
let's try and bowl a little bit fuller on a wicket that was offering a little bit.
Oh, close. Close. Surely.
Yes! Finger goes up. Beauty from Starc.
I'm saying, "Is he gonna refer it? Is he gonna refer it? Is he gonna refer it?
"He's not referring it. Yes! He's out. You fucking beauty!"
Absolutely plumb, and Australia are prising the wickets.
They've got two. They got them very quickly.
They've got such a long batting line-up, England,
so we knew two wickets or three wickets wasn't gonna win us a game.
They'd bat right through.
And now Ben Stokes joins Jonny Bairstow,
and England in desperate need of a partnership.
That's a beautiful shot from Ben Stokes. My gosh.
Explosive stuff from Ben Stokes.
Stokes is flashing through extra cover. Nothing Lyon could do about that.
Ben Stokes is probably one of the best all-rounders in the game,
and obviously he was controlling their innings, even though they were behind the eight ball.
At the moment it's with England.
Stokes in particular, who's moved to 88, seems to be enjoying pace on the ball.
He's gonna get some more now, because Mitchell Starc is gonna come on.
Ben Stokes is that complete package cricketer, if you like,
and he nearly got them home three days ago against Sri Lanka, so he was the wicket that we wanted.
That is brilliant bowling!
An outstanding inswinging yorker.
The perfect yorker, and that was pretty much the end of England's hopes.
It was nail in the coffin, game done at that point.
What a performance from Australia.
The five times world champions are the first side through to the semis.
A complete performance from a complete team.
Yeah, big one!
It's one thing to talk about all these things. You've got to execute it as well, right?
Well done, gentlemen.
So you've got to have your players thinking the right way and, more importantly,
making sure they've got the skill to execute it under pressure,
and that day most things worked out quite nicely.
Oh, shit. Thanks. Awesome.
Boys, before we wrap it up, a couple of things. Well done. We're all really proud of you.
Great job. Great job.
The only thing I want to say, though, is that this isn't the semifinal.
OK. Enjoy it, but this isn't the semifinal yet.
OK? We've still got plenty to do before that.
It was a team that all of a sudden looked very, very comfortable with itself.
Game over. They win by 86 runs.
Six months before, no-one had given them the faintest hope of getting that far,
but they got to a point in the tournament where they thought,
well, "Who says we can't go all the way?"
The feeling around the group was awesome.
Hey, I've seen you do that before.
You could feel the really genuine care and love for each other.
You know, how hard they were training, how hard they were pushing themselves training
and that was sort of transferring over into performances on the field
and that was the way I knew teams to be that I played in.
Do it again!
Nice, Finch!
I think it's important to train at a really high intensity,
because if you don't, you can't just switch that on and off.
I think you have to be exposed to that consistently.
Knowing that I had to face up to Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins,
I literally am petrified when I walk into those nets.
It's just, how am I gonna go today?
It's a shocking feeling walking into the nets with fear.
Practising batting against our fast bowlers, you know,
they're coming in bowling 150 kays in the nets, which feels like 160 in a confined space.
So if you're doing that and you're doing that well,
then I feel as though that gives you so much confidence when you go out to the middle.
Nice.
All I remember was Starky bowling a bouncer and hitting Maxwell.
Looked pretty bad. He walked out, looked like he was in pain.
And...SOS walked in, and SOS obviously hadn't played the last four or five games.
He was basically the spare batter.
And I remember Putter saying, "You never know, SOS.
"If Maxie's no good here, this might be your chance."
I bowled a pretty bad ball and that was meant to be my last ball of the spell,
and I just thought, "Nah, I'd better finish on a good one, so I'll bowl one more."
SOS is probably the bravest man you'll ever meet in cricket.
He never shows pain.
For him to walk straight out and nothing, no expression on his face or anything like that,
it was pretty obvious that something wasn't right.
Your heart drops because you just know, if he's admitting that he's in pain, he's seriously gone.
I just remember this sort of sharp pain and I couldn't move my wrist
and the emotions started kicking in that I knew deep down that I'd broken my arm.
Yeah, so I knew that maybe that was the end of my World Cup.
He's one of my best mates. I just didn't know what to say.
Honestly, it broke my heart.
Like, I don't know how to put into words that emotion that I was feeling at the time
and I just wanted to hug him.
He's not a big hugger, but I just wanted to... I am a big hugger.
I just wanted to hold him and just be like, "Mate, I feel so sorry for you."
I just wanted to cry for him, you know?
The realisation of me having an injury and that ending my World Cup was really hard to take.
I am 36.
The World Cup, you know, might have been the last time I play in the Australian cricket team,
and for it to end with a broken arm was definitely, you know, really disappointing.
What do you do in a World Cup? You've just got to move on pretty quickly.
Very rare I think a tournament goes perfectly for you,
but you've just got to find a way to adapt and adjust and get on and win games.
This final group match against South Africa, for Australia, was very simple.
If they won, they would go top of the table.
If they lost, then it would be a case of them facing England in the semifinal.
We needed to win that game badly.
South Africa, brilliant stuff. Australia haven't been quite at their best.
Here's Tahir.
Catch!
Should be out! Is out! Finch hits it straight to cover.
A brilliant start for South Africa once again.
Usman Khawaja is in at three and he's in early today.
He's a fine player and he is a cement-tight player for me.
He's what you put your foundation on.
Davey hit one down leg side.
It came out of absolutely nowhere.
You could just feel...
That's what you feel a lot of time with hammies. You just feel it sort of ping off.
I felt that ping.
I think Usman Khawaja is genuinely struggling and is battling here.
He's gonna get the physio out.
As soon as it happened, I knew. I was like, "Oh, shit."
Like, I just knew, like, "I'm cooked here."
Usman Khawaja is in a bad way
and what does that spell for the rest of the tournament also?
And Davey was just like, "You've got to go, 'cause you can't run."
I'm like, "Yeah, sorry. I've got to go."
I honestly can't remember being that disappointed coming off a cricket field ever in my life.
Walking off the field like that and not being out
just feels like you've let your team down straightaway.
Knowing that that was my World Cup over, it just hit me so hard.
It's the first time I've ever in my life shed tears in a dressing-room, ever.
Yeah, you dream of playing World Cups, you dream of playing World Cup semis, World Cup finals,
and...it was taken away right there.
Yeah, it was shattering for Usman to do his hammy.
To have Shaun, who would've come in as his replacement, injured as well is...
..yeah, it wasn't the best week for us up there in Manchester.
Brilliant bit of cricket from South Africa.
Australia will be disappointed.
They could have ended up top of the pops. They don't.
So they'll be playing in the second semifinal against England.
If I look at it in its most simple terms,
we lost one of our premier batters in the run chase,
and we specifically picked Usman Khawaja, the Test number three,
to get us through those tough moments, and we didn't get through it.
And we lost his replacement, Shaun Marsh, the day before.
Yeah, it just felt like everything sort of just went from being really good...
..just, like, the complete 180 now, where everything is really bad.
We set about before this game not to play on emotion, to play on skill.
When we turn up on Thursday, probably unlike we did today,
think about those two sitting right there who's helped us get to this position.
They have been two of our best players for the last 12 months.
They've helped us get to this position to be in the World Cup,
so let's play on a bit of emotion because we talked about we went to Gallipoli,
we talk about mateship is one of our values, we talk about the brotherhood.
Well, let's dig deep in our preparation this week.
If we do it for nothing else, it's for these two blokes right here.
Because they're not gonna play
and you know that they would both cut their leg off to play and they deserve to play.
It's the oldest of rivalries in the game.
It's England against Australia.
It is the World Cup semifinal.
Everything that's gone before today is irrelevant.
Today you need to come out and play your best cricket.
On our day we know if we turn up and we execute the right way that we can beat anyone.
This is a huge occasion.
It should be an absolute cracker.
Jofra Archer. He's got the skills, Archer. Can he deliver?
That's the ball you're looking for. That's the one they're looking for.
Given! First ball!
Finchy gets out first ball. The captain goes out first ball.
So, plan A was Finch.
Plan B, tight line to Warner, try and nick him off. Two slips waiting.
Edged, and taken!
What a start from England. What a start from Woakes.
Fuck!
We were behind the eight ball from the start.
Gone! What a beauty.
Trouble for Australia. Handscomb's got to go for 4. 14/3.
This is not happening.
You know, this is not what I'd seen happening with this group.
Pressure's on here for the Australian batsman.
Carey comes in at number five. A promotion for him.
He is a man in nick.
But he is gonna face some unbelievable new-ball bowling.
A good test for Carey here.
Test not just of ability and technique but also of courage and heart.
You're obviously quite excited or nervous and anxious and sitting there,
and then, once that wicket falls, you're like, "OK."
You go through those words that work for me and then you're into the battle.
And what a bumper.
Absolutely beautifully bowled, and unfortunately, a little cut on the chin.
The grille went back, the buckle busted and it fell off,
and I caught it, so that was good.
Probably saved my wicket.
Alex Carey getting some treatment.
I think just when you're out in that contest, that battle, that it's just a little flesh wound
and your main focus is batting, making runs and not losing your wicket.
Alex Carey, he's out there to do battle.
It's a brave effort, this, from Carey.
He must be uncomfortable under that strapping.
The face has begun to swell up. You can see that.
We talk about character, don't we, in the game all the time,
and to see him hit like that early on,
I don't care who it is, it's gonna shake you up and it's gonna rattle you to a certain degree.
But you wouldn't have known with him.
He just got back on with it and knew what job he had to do for his team
and he went about doing it the best way that he could.
Oh, it's in the air. Through the gap and away.
What poise, what positivity, what execution
by this wonderful new wicket-keeper batsman for Australia.
If I'm judging cricketers, I like to judge them when they're under pressure and how they perform
and what their body language is like.
Beautiful stroke.
He came in and he was calm, he was composed and he was just playing the game.
If this partnership progresses into that 40th over,
it could be a very, very competitive total that Australia can build.
It was funny because I kept saying, "No, no, someone will pull us out.
"Someone has pulled us out for the last six months.
"Someone will do it. Someone will pull us out. Someone will pull us out of trouble."
- That's it. - Leg side.
There is a man out there. Straight to him, surely.
Yes.
Straight to him.
Partnership broken.
Australia didn't have the batting prowess in form to be able to rescue the innings at that stage,
so when Carey departs, there's a dull sense of dread.
Ooh, wrong'un. Close. He hasn't picked the wrong'un.
Will the finger go up? You bet it does!
Oh! They've gone.
Oh, gone! Taken. And taken so well.
Yes!
Oh, that'll be tight.
That could be the end of Smith.
Watch that ball straight between Steve Smith's legs.
Can you believe it?
Yes, Steve Smith, unfortunately, he's gonna have to go.
What a performance from this England bowling attack.
224 all out, Australia.
Game plan is exactly the same. Nothing changes. Nothing changes.
We know what we're doing.
Nothing changes.
They won't give it up, Australia. They are champions.
You want to be a match-winner. It's a World Cup semifinal.
You want to be remembered.
And I remember walking out there just pumped, just going, "Can't wait.
"This is a chance where we could do something really special."
So, we knew we had to be taking early wickets. I think that was our best chance.
We couldn't just let it peter out to the back end of the innings
because they play quite aggressive.
We had to take wickets.
Driven away. Beautiful hands from Jason Roy.
Shot. Really good shot, that.
It's a tough game and the best can even get belted at times.
If Mitch, the best bowler in the world, is getting smacked...
..what am I gonna do?
That is a statement of intent if ever there was one.
Cummins into the attack.
Oh, what a shot.
When we didn't take a wicket early, the game kind of slipped away pretty quickly.
Crunched! Brilliant.
These two, they're on fire at Edgbaston.
It ended up being just one of those days because I didn't see it coming that way.
That's up here in the commentary box!
It's an exhibition of batting. It has been for a while.
Hit away over mid-on.
How fitting it is that Captain Morgan is the man
that leads his team to Lord's for a World Cup final?
Australia, they've been completely outplayed by England.
It's been clinical, it's been ruthless.
As a kid, that's all you dreamt of - playing in a World Cup final.
That was the dream.
And it got taken away.
You either win it and you're the kings or you lose it and...
..yeah, you feel empty, you leave feeling empty.
That opportunity that that group had has been missed.
An opportunity to leave their own history on World Cup cricket as a team.
That's what it's all about.
The 2019 Australian World Cup cricket team had an opportunity to do something
that some of them might not get an opportunity to do again.
You can silver-line it as much as you want. You're there to win the World Cup.
We'd got this far as a great group of people,
we had amazing preparation, we had great support staff,
we had the players were playing well.
And you know it's over.
Well, it's an unusual summer, because you've got the World Cup and the Ashes in the same summer,
which is just incredible.
England had their moment here on 14 July.
For Australia, if there's anything that can potentially rival a World Cup win,
it's winning an Ashes.
Next on The Test...
Go get 'em, boys! Go get 'em!
Steve Smith is back!
Not every day you play a Test at Lord's, mate.
Oh, no!
I don't think I've ever seen someone get hit so hard on a cricket ground.
What's the story, Leaks?
We were really worried. It's 150km/h.
You get hit by a car at 150km/h, you're not getting up.
This is our best batter. He's just been knocked out. Like, what's gonna happen?
He's still down.