Australia’s record-breaking victory over England in Lahore marked the exciting conclusion of the Champions Trophy’s first round of matches, but not before England set a couple of their own.
When Australia put England to bat on a completely level deck, England didn’t appear to mind. Although they started quickly, England lost wickets early on. Joe Root (68 off 78) and Ben Duckett (165 off 143) provided England with a strong foundation with their 158-run partnership. Following Root’s removal, England struggled in the final ten overs, losing wickets yet maintaining a high scoring rate to set the Australians a target of 352.
With the score at 27/2, Australia appeared to be in trouble until captain Steve Smith and star batsman Travis Head returned in the powerplay.
Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Short (63 off 66) provided some steadiness to the Australian innings by scoring 95 for the third wicket. Short and Labuschagne left within three overs of one other after Josh Inglis (120* off 86) and Alex Carey (69 off 63) joined the night’s star. The two maintained Australia in the chase with a cool-headed partnership of 146 in about 29 overs. Nevertheless, Inglis accelerated throughout the final overs and was well-aided by Glenn Maxwell in completing a memorable chase.
Here are the most important numbers from the game:
1 – With 499, Joe Root now has the most runs by an English batter in the Champions Trophy surpassing Eoin Morgan’s 439.
1 – Joe Root’s 4 fifty-plus in the Champions Trophy are the joint-most by an Englishman in the tournament. Eoin Morgan and Marcus Trescothick have as many.
1 – Ben Duckett’s 165 is the highest individual score in the Champions Trophy. In fact, he is the only player to cross the 150-run mark in the tournament, the previous record of 145 was jointly held by Nathan Astle and Andy Flower.
15 – Ben Duckett and Josh Inglis became the 14th and 15th players resoectively to score a century in their first Champions Trophy match. Of the 15 players to have achieved this, seven have done it in this edition alone. Those seven instances also happen to be all the centuries scored in this tournament so far.
1 – Josh Inglis’ 77-ball century is the joint fastest in the Champions Trophy. Virender Sehwag had also taken the same number of balls against England in 2002.
2 – Inglis’ century was the fourth by an Australian batter in the Chanpions Trophy and his score of 120 the second highest for Australia in the tournament. The previous three centuries by Australian batters in the Champions Trophy had come in the 2009 edition. Shane Watson had scored centuries in both the semi-final and final of that tournament while Ricky Ponting had given Watson support with three-figures of his own in the former.
3 – Each of the top three highest individual scores by Australian batters in the Champions Trophy have come against England. Shane Watson scored 136 while Ricky Ponting scored 111 in the semi-final of the 2009 edition against England.
4 – Josh Inglis is now the fourth Australian and the 26th player in the world to score centuries in all three formats in international cricket.
1 – Australia’s chase of 352 is the highest successful chase in not just the Champions Trophy, but also in all ICC ODI events. Consequently, Australia’s 356 and England’s 351 are the highest and the second highest team totals in the Champions Trophy. The previous highest successful chase in the Champions Trophy was 322 by Sri Lanka against India in 2017, while the highest successful chase in ODI World Cups is 345 by Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 2023. It is also the eighth highest successful chase in all ODIs.
1 – The chase of 352 is Australia’s second highest ever in ODIs and the highest ever against England in the format. Australia’s highest successful chase is 359 against India at Mohali in 2019 while the previous highest against England was 351 by India at Pune in 2017.
2 – Australia’s chase of 352 is the second highest in ODIs in Pakistan and the highest at Lahore. The highest successful chase in ODIs in Pakistan is the 353 overhauled by Pakistan against South Africa in the recently held tri-series. The previous highest successful chase in ODIs at Lahore was 349 by Pakistan against Australia in 2022.
4 – Australia have become the fourth team to succesfully chase down a target of 350 or more in ODIs multiple times. India and England lead the chart with three such chases each while South Africa’s two and Pakistan’s one round off the list.
2 – England are the second team to have conceded multiple successful chases of 350 or more in ODIs. The only other team are Australia themselves who havve conceded four such chases. India, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and South Africa all have conceded just one each of such chases.