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Former Australia players conceded that their side were "outplayed" by England as Eoin Morgan's men cruised to victory in their Cricket World Cup semi-final.
Australia were bowled out for 223 runs at Edgbaston on Thursday, before England duly reached their target with 17.5 overs remaining for the loss of just two wickets.
The result means England now face New Zealand in the final at Lord's on Sunday, when both sides will be aiming to secure their first men's World Cup title.
"England too good today," tweeted former Australia bowler Brett Lee, who won the World Cup in 2003, while fellow quick Jason Gillespie said: "Congratulations England. Outplayed Australia today. All the best for the WC final v NZ."
England too good today
— Brett Lee (@BrettLee_58) July 11, 2019
Congratulations England. Outplayed Australia today. All the best for the WC final v NZ.#CWC2019 — Jason Gillespie 🌱🌈 (@dizzy259) July 11, 2019
England players past and present did not waste the chance to enjoy the team's first World Cup semi-final win since 1992, with Matthew Hoggard simply tweeting the Australia flag next to a waving hand emoji.
🇦🇺 👋🏻 — Matthew hoggard (@Hoggy602) July 11, 2019
Test bowler Stuart Broad wrote: "Beautiful #WeAreEngland Just Beautiful," and former England spinner Graeme Swann described Jason Roy's 85 runs as "pure bliss".
Beautiful #WeAreEngland Just Beautiful 🏏 — Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) July 11, 2019 That @JasonRoy20 innings, regardless of the farcical end, was pure bliss ❤️. Perhaps batsman will stop just trying to get away with being plumb when they see what can happen as a result 🙄 — Graeme Swann (@Swannyg66) July 11, 2019
Graham Onions, Tim Bresnan and Alec Stewart all praised Morgan's side, with Onions singling out Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow and Roy for praise.
"England have been superb. Woakes and Archer set the tone, Bairstow and Roy...ruthless," he wrote.
England have been superb. Woakes and Archer set the tone, Bairstow and Roy...ruthless. 🏴 @englandcricket — Graham Onions (@BunnyOnions) July 11, 2019 Boys that was awesome. #ENGvAUS #englandcricket @englandcricket — Tim Bresnan (@timbresnan) July 11, 2019 Well played @englandcricket Now go and win it 🏆 pic.twitter.com/wHKNqlTKD7 — Alec Stewart (@StewieCricket) July 11, 2019
Cricketers from other nations also shared their thoughts on the result.
Shaun Pollock, VVS Laxman, Shahid Afridi and Ravichandran Ashwin all tweeted on the subject of a new World Cup winner being on the horizon.
"Must be a cracking game at Lords where a first time World Champion will be crowned," former India batsman Laxman posted, while ex-Pakistan ODI star Afridi wrote: "Great all-round performance from team England! Brilliant aggressive batting to back the bowling effort."
So come what may... July 14th..there will be a new country crowned as World Cup Cricket Champions..#CWC19 🏴 or 🇳🇿Arguably the greatest opportunity in their cricketing history — Shaun Pollock (@7polly7) July 11, 2019 Congratulations to England on beating Australia and winning the semi-finals . Must be a cracking game at Lords where a first time World Champion will be crowned #EngvAus — VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) July 11, 2019 Great all-round performance from team England! Brilliant aggressive batting to back the bowling effort. We will have a new #CWC19 winner and it should be a memorable final. Tough luck Australia #ENGvAUS — Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) July 11, 2019 A new world champion for certain. #CricketWorldCup Well done England.👏 — Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) July 11, 2019
