Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bat first against England in the second semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday. The winner of this match will meet New Zealand at Lord’s on Sunday (14 July).

For Australia, Peter Handscomb replaced injured Usman Khwaja, whereas England are playing with the same XI.

“We are going to have a bat. Looks like a really good wicket and don’t think it will change too much. Hopefully, we put up a big total. It gives a lot of experience to the occasion and gives the guys a chance to talk to people who have been in that position before. It is nice but come the day it does not count for a helluva lot. Just one, Peter Handscomb comes in for Usman Khawaja. Yes, he (Steve Smith) will bat at three today. He is a world class player and last World Cup he dominated that position. So hoping for much more today,” said Finch after winning the toss.

England captain Eoin Morgan said: ” Exact same. The trend of the tournament has been to bat first. Although Edgbaston has been a magnificent ground. The last time we played here against India, we saw a high score of 340 and them almost chasing it down. Not really bothered as before the World Cup we preferred to chase. I think whoever plays the best cricket will go through. It has actually helped us throughout the group stages. The opportunity coming into the World Cup, the highs and lows of the group stages and particularly the last two games, we have gone from strength to strength as a side. We played two semifinalists and came off with wins which obviously gives us confidence going into this game. We have got the same team.”

Here are the Playing XI of both the teams:

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch (captain), Steven Smith, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon

England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood