England
need
only
a
victory
against
Sri
Lanka
in
Saturday’s
final
Group
1
match
to
be
sure
of
a
place
in
the
last
four.
Hosts
and
defending
champions
Australia
had
been
facing
an
uphill
battle
to
improve
their
run
rate
ever
since
an
89-run
thrashing
at
the
hands
of
the
Black
Caps
in
their
opener.
With
their
meeting
with
England
rained
off,
the
margin
of
victory
in
other
matches
was
going
to
prove
pivotal.
Although
Australia
survived
a
scare
in
beating
Afghanistan
by
four
runs,
that
tight
affair
left
their
net
run
rate
at
-0.173,
below
England’s
mark
of
+0.547,
which
will
improve
further
with
victory
over
Sri
Lanka.
The
home
nation
therefore
need
Sri
Lanka
to
defeat
England
and
keep
them
in
the
top
two
on
seven
points.
Stand-in
Australia
captain
Matthew
Wade
said:
“We’ll
stay
the
extra
night
here
and
watch
that
game.
We’ll
be
hoping
for
a
little
bit
of
an
upset
there,
obviously.
“That’s
tournament
play
–
we
put
ourselves
in
this
situation
straight
from
the
get-go
this
time.
Although
we’ve
been
trying
to
chase
a
little
bit
of
run
rate,
it
just
hasn’t
really
gone
our
way.
“We’ve
been
a
little
bit
slow
getting
out
of
the
blocks
in
this
tournament.
Hopefully
it
doesn’t
cost
us.”
Glenn
Maxwell
struck
a
similar
tone,
saying:
“We’ll
certainly
be
following
it.
We’ve
obviously
put
ourselves
in
this
situation,
but
hopefully
Sri
Lanka
can
do
the
job
for
us.”
Although
Maxwell
scored
an
unbeaten
54
off
32
against
Afghanistan,
he
added:
“It
was
quite
hard
to
press
the
issue.
“We
probably
got
to
about
the
12-over
mark,
where
we
just
had
to
put
a
total
on
the
board
to
make
sure
we
gave
ourselves
a
chance
of
winning
the
game.
“Even
though
we
were
trying
to
go
hard
at
the
back
end,
they
bowled
extremely
well.”
If
Sri
Lanka
can
do
Australia
a
huge
favour,
Wade
is
“very
hopeful”
skipper
Aaron
Finch
and
all-rounder
Tim
David
will
return
for
the
semi-finals.
David
was
“really,
really
close”
but
failed
a
late
fitness
test
on
Friday,
Wade
added.
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