Smith, Carey lead Australia in Champs Trophy semifinal

Half centuries from Steve Smith and Alex Carey helped Australia reach a competitive total of 264 all out in 49.3 overs after choosing to bat first in their Champions Trophy semifinal match against India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Captain Smith top-scored with a hard-working 73 from 96 balls which included just four fours and a straight driven six before missing a full toss from fast bowler Mohammad Shami (3-48) but Carey worked just as hard to keep the lower order together with a more fluent 61 from 57 balls with eight fours and a six.

Opener Cooper Connolly (0) barely laid a bat on his first eight balls before edging the ninth from Shami to ‘keeper KL Rahul but Travis Head was at his belligerent best with five fours and two sixes in his 39 from just 33 balls before driving the first ball from wrist-spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2-49) to Shubman Gill at long on.

Marnus Labuschagne (29) was the perfect man to eke out a large score on a dry pitch offering low and uneven bounce and looked well on his way reaching 29 from 36 balls before the excellent left arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja (2-40) trapped him lbw.

Josh Inglis (11) chipped one the many deliveries from India’s four spinners which gripped and ‘stopped’ in the pitch to Virat Kohli at cover while Glenn Maxwell (7) swept the second left armer, Axar Patel, for a six over square but was bowled playing back to the next delivery.

Australia’s hopes of pressing beyond 280 ended when Shreyas Iyer produced a powerful throw and direct hit to run Carey out at the start of the 48th over but the Australians have selected a third spinner in Tanveer Sangha to complement Adam Zampa and Maxwell and will hope that ‘scoreboard’ pressure also plays a role in the run-chase.

The contest is a rematch of the World Cup final during which Australia silenced a 100 000+ crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in November 2023 with a resounding six-wicket victory. This time the winner will play either South Africa or New Zealand in Sunday’s final which will also be in Dubai if India are involved - or in Lahore if they lose today.

INDIA: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wkt), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy

AUSTRALIA: Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Steven Smith (captain), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wkt), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha