Australia vs England, 4th Match, Group B at Lahore, Champions Trophy, Feb 22 2025 – Live Cricket Score

Live blog – Australia chasing 352 to beat England in Lahore after Duckett 165

Carey key?

It’s nearly five years ago that Alex Carey hit an excellent hundred against England in Manchester to lead Australia home in a steep run chase, with Glenn Maxwell also hitting a ton. Are we about to see something similar?

England suddenly look very short on options with the ball as the players take drinks. Carse is down on pace in his comeback over and his figures are 0 for 46 after five, while Jofra Archer has been on and off the field. Buttler has got through his notional fifth bowler quota between Livingstone and Root, but they might well be required to bowl a fair few more.

The big question is when to bring Adil Rashid back. He has four overs left which could define the outcome of this game. Buttler will be wary that Inglis and Carey could just choose to knock him about if he brings him back too soon. But this partnership is suddenly worth 76 off 58 balls, and Australia are cruising.

Archer back on

Jos Buttler and England fans will breathe a big sigh of relief: Archer is back on the field after that scare.

Archer struggling?

Jamie Overton is on as a sub fielder for England and Jofra Archer looks to be struggling. He’s having some treatment on the boundary edge, which will be a major concern for Jos Buttler. We’ll bring you an update on that as soon as we get it.

Inglis counters

This still looks like a great pitch for batting, and Australia’s two keepers – Josh Inglis and Alex Carey – aren’t going to waste time rebuilding. Inglis manages 15 runs off the 27th over one way or another, including four byes when he was done in the flight, and the required rate is still below eight an over. It’s all about how these two can set the game up for Maxwell at the end.

Livingstone gets Short

Another huge wicket for England. Two set batters gone in the space of 19 balls. There were plenty of concerns about how they would manage their overs with Livingstone as their fifth bowler, but he’s done a great job so far. Nothing loose, bowling to his field, and figures of 1 for 15 after 20 balls thanks to a good return catch off Matt Short.

Rashid strikes

Marnus Labuschagne throws his head back in frustration. He’s fallen right into the trap. Adil Rashid, England’s best bowler in this format over the past decade, has been varying his pace and lobs this legbreak up at just 43.8mph/70.5kph, trying to tempt Labuschagne into an attacking shot after three overs of strike rotation. He goes hard at it, but picks out Jos Buttler at short extra cover. The end of a 95-run stand.

After 20 overs:
England were 132 for 2.
Australia are 129 for 3.

50 for Short

Matt Short has a patchy ODI record but is delivering when Australia need him at his first ICC world event. “He didn’t fight the pace; he used it, beautifully,” says Aaron Finch on commentary, over a package of his shots against the quicks. Short races to only his third international half-century, and Australia are in control right now. England still need to find 10 overs from their fifth bowler, which will be a combination of Livingstone and Root.

Short, Labuschagne counter-punch

Australia aren’t going down without a fight here, with Marnus Labuschagne striking at 150 early in his innings and taking 14 runs from a loose Brydon Carse over. The big challenge will be whether they can negotiate 10 overs of legspin from Adil Rashid without too much damage.

Australia two down early

Ben Duckett is having a great night. He could have been forgiven for putting his feet up briefly at the start of Australia’s innings after batting through until the 48th over for his 165, but instead finds himself at slip and takes a sharp catch to dismiss Australia’s stand-in captain, Steve Smith.

Mark Wood has been bowling some serious heat, and looks so much more threatening when he’s given the new ball than when he’s asked to come on as first-change. If England can get one more in the Powerplay, they’ll be miles ahead of the game.

Archer gets Head

That’s the wicket England wanted. Travis Head has caused them plenty of problems over the last three-and-a-half years across formats, but Jofra Archer strikes early to have him caught and bowled, miscuing back to him. Head has got the better of Archer in their previous ODI meetings – he’d scored 46 off 34 balls off Archer in their previous two battles – but it’s the England man who comes out on top tonight in Lahore.

It briefly looked as though Archer had done himself some damage while taking that catch, but he looks like he’ll be fine. He suffered a cut on his hand at one point in England’s recent tour of India, which might by why that one stung.

Australia need 352 to win

Australia will need 352 to beat England in Lahore. If you’re just joining us at the interval, here’s what you missed in the first innings:

• Ben Duckett made his highest ODI score – and the first 150 at the Champions Trophy – to underpin their innings. After struggling to convert his starts in India, Duckett batted through to the 48th over and held England together.
• Joe Root hit 68 from No. 4, and added 158 off 155 balls with Duckett for the third wicket as England ticked over through the middle overs, setting up a back-up launch.
• Their innings fell away towards the end, with nobody else passing 25 – though England’s 351 was still the highest in Champions Trophy history. Nathan Ellis was wicketless, but used his defensive skill to concede only 51 from his 10 overs.
• Alex Carey took three catches in the outfield, including a screamer at mid-on to dismiss Phil Salt and another athletic effort at backward point to remove Harry Brook.
• Australia opted to bowl first at the toss, and are hoping there will be dew later tonight to help them out in their run chase on what looks like a very flat pitch.

Zampa strikes!

It’s a very tight lbw call, but Root has to walk off after battling hard for 68 off 78 balls. He was struck on the front pad while down low to sweep and this looked to be sliding down the leg side to the naked eye. But Ahsan Raza gave him out on-field, and ball-tracking projected that the ball would have skimmed leg stump – enough to uphold the initial decision. That’s the end of a 158-run stand.

England in fourth gear

Duckett and Root’s partnership is ticking towards 140 and one of the keys has been their ability to rotate strike. Danyal Rasool, our man in Lahore, tells me that England have faced by far the fewest dots at this stage of an innings of any team in the Champions Trophy so far, with both batters happy to tick over and punch singles to the four sweepers. Could Steve Smith have been more attacking with his fielding positions, bringing in a short cover or short midwicket to try and stem the flow?

England’s plan to reshuffle their batting line-up hasn’t worked. Jamie Smith played a couple of gorgeous shots at No. 3 but his dismissal is fairly ugly, a leg-side pick-up straight to Carey at mid-on for a straightforward chance this time. This shot was neither one thing nor the other: Smith looked as though he was trying to hit this hard, up and over the leg-side ring, but didn’t get enough elevation and couldn’t have picked out mid-on better if he’d tried.

That means Joe Root is walking out to bat in the sixth over, despite him shuffling back down to No. 4 as part of this new-look batting order.

Carey takes a screamer

How’s the hang time on that? Phil Salt gets an inswinging half-volley from Ben Dwarshuis which he looks to flick over the infield on the leg side, but Carey runs to his right at mid-on, flings himself back over his shoulder, and grabs hold of an absolute ripper. That’s his first-ever catch as an outfielder in ODIs.

Alex Carey has kept wicket in 143 of his 155 internationals across formats for Australia, but is in the field today with Josh Inglis preferred behind the stumps.

Australia ask England to bat first as Champions Trophy arrives in Lahore