Adelaide: England won the toss for the Cricket World Cup final match today and decided to field first in the match against Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket ground. Both the teams were unchanged from their semi-finals.
Shahid Afridi struck in his first over to dismiss England opener Alex Hales. Sam Curran returned with a spell of 3/12 as England restricted Pakistan to 137/8. “Brilliant spell of fast bowling by Sam Curran”, tweeted ICC.
The match today is expected to be a nail-biting contest as the two sides have raised their game in the middle of the tournament. However, threat of rain is also looming large over the finals.
Earlier, Pakistan qualified for the semifinals after losing their first two Super 12 games and winning the next three before knocking out New Zealand of the final four with a seven wicket win. England finished second in Group 1 of the Super 12 stages with seven points and beat India by 10 wickets in 2nd semifinals to reach the summit clash.