2019 Cricket World Cup Betting: England vs Australia Semifinal

The second of the 2019 Cricket World Cup semifinals takes place on Thursday at Edgbaston, where old enemies England and Australia lock horns in the ODI format ahead of their Ashes summer.

As tournament hosts, England might just be fancied to reach their fourth World Cup final and their first since 1992.

But the Australians defeated their old foe in the group match between the pair, so how important could that prove to be?

Match Odds

Since that defeat to the Aussies, England has bounced back by defeating group phase Sportsbook India and demolishing New Zealand, so they will be full of confidence. That’s reflected in match odds that favor the host team at -140.

Australia will need to bounce back from defeat to South Africa last time out. In Mitchell Starc, David Warner and Aaron Finch, they possess three of the best players at CWC ’19, so they cannot be written off at odds of +115.

Key Battles

As has been the case throughout this tournament, the key battles in this contest will come early on in the piece of both innings.

When England is batting, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy will be looking to make hay in the Sportsbook power play. Just 22 yards away, Starc – the leading wicket taker in the competition – will be looking to fire in those in-swinging yorkers that are almost impossible to dig out.

But here’s the thing: Starc has taken just 19 percent of his wicket haul in his Sportsbook spell, meaning that Bairstow and Roy are unlikely to face him at his most dangerous. And that is why they will be tasked with taking the game to the Australian bowlers.

Only two of the Aussie bowlers have taken double figures for wickets in this tournament, and while Pat Cummins is highly respected and Jason Behrendorff took a five-for against Eoin Morgan’s team in the group game between the teams, neither has the electric pace or nous to consistently trouble the best batsmen in the business.

And it’s for that reason that we anticipate England getting off to a tremendous start that lays the foundation for a mighty total.

In the Australia innings, the Sportsbook duo of David Warner and Aaron Finch have clubbed more than 1,100 runs between them in the tournament thus far.

It’s a tremendous statistic given that Finch has only scored 11 in his last two innings, but it’s a lack of form – allied to a loss of touch from Steve Smith and an injury to Usman Khawaja – that hints at vulnerability in this Australian top order.

Verdict

This could be a game of fine margins, and it could be one where the toss could once again prove all important: neither of these teams has looked as comfortable when chasing.

But England comes into the match with confidence and with a fully fit squad to choose from; Australia could be shorn of the talents of Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis, if reports are to be believed.

A loss of form from Finch and Smith couldn’t have come at a worse time, and we expect England to set up the dream final against India with a win here.