Lahore, Feb 22: Opener Ben Duckett smashed a magnificent 165 – the highest individual score in the history of Champions Trophy – as England posted a mammoth 351/8 against Australia in their Group B match of 2025 Champions Trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.

Pushed into batting first, Duckett hit shots all over the park to hit a career-best 165 off 142 deliveries, and setting a new record for the best individual score previously held by former New Zealand great Nathan Astle. Duckett’s knock, laced with a whopping 17 boundaries and three maximums, is also the first instance of a batter scoring 150 in the tournament’s history.

By the time he was dismissed by Marnus Labuschagne in the 48th over, Duckett had done his job of holding England’s innings together. He got good support from Joe Root, who hit 68, and added 158 off 155 balls with Duckett for the third wicket to ensure England have a huge total on board.

For Australia, pacer Ben Dwarshuis was the standout bowler with 3-66, while Adam Zampa and Marnus Labuschagne took two wickets each and Glenn Maxwell had one scalp to his name. Left-arm pacer Dwarshuis struck twice in the first ten overs to take out Phil Salt and Jamie Smith, with Alex Carey taking two sensational grabs as a fielder.

With Duckett flaunting his ability to find the boundary, Root hit a patient 68 of 78 deliveries and was looking on course to get his first ODI hundred in almost six years till he was trapped lbw by Zampa, who would later remove Harry Brook quickly as Carey took another stunning catch.

England skipper Jos Buttler also didn’t last long as Maxwell had him holing out for 23, but Duckett continued to keep the scoreboard ticking at the other end to go past 150. Jofra Archer’s late cameo of 21 not out off 10 balls was also handy in England making their highest ever total in the Champions Trophy. Australia will now be hoping that dew comes in time to help them chase down 352 on a very placid pitch.

Brief Scores: England 351/8 in 50 overs (Ben Duckett 165, Joe Root 68; Ben Dwarshuis 3-66, Marnus Labuschagne 2-41) against Australia

Lahore, Feb 22: In a major blunder ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy match between Australia and England at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday, the Indian national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was played instead of ‘Advance Australia Fair’ (Australia’s national anthem).

As has been the case in ICC events, national anthems of both teams are played before the commencement of every match. After England’s national anthem, ‘God Save The King’ was played, it was supposed to be followed by ‘Advance Australia Fair’.

But to everyone’s surprise at the venue, the Indian national anthem was played for two seconds, before the mistake was rectified immediately and ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was played. It led to a huge backlash from cricket enthusiasts on social media, who couldn’t stop themselves from laughing over this big blunder.

The national anthem blunder ahead of the Australia-England game is something which the host body Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) will have to explain in due course of time, as well as the action they will take against the concerned people.

Coming to the match, Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bowl first against England in their first Group B game of the eight-team tournament. Both teams came into Saturday’s match on the back of ODI series defeats in the subcontinent. While England suffered a 3-0 loss in India, Australia lost both of its ODIs in Colombo to Sri Lanka, a side who aren’t part of the ongoing Champions Trophy.

Both England and Australia need at least two wins from their Group B matches, also featuring South Africa and Afghanistan, to progress to the semifinals of the Champions Trophy. The two sides last met in ODIs last year in England, with Australia winning the series 3-2.

New Delhi, Feb 22: Ahead of the blockbuster clash against India on Sunday, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for emphasising too much on hosting the Champions Trophy rather than building a strong team for the tournament.

Pakistan suffered a bumpy start in their first ICC home tournament since 1996 as they lost to New Zealand by 60 runs in the opener in Karachi. The veteran bowler also lashed out at PCB for creating controversy on India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the eight-team spectacle.

“Pakistan focused more on hosting the Champions Trophy than thinking about building a good team. They messed up big time. They don’t focus on their cricket and create controversy on India not coming to Pakistan despite knowing that a hybrid model will be followed in the tournament. Recently, Pakistan failed to beat West Indies in the Test series. In the Tri-Nation Series, they lost too on home soil,” Kaneria told IANS.

“There is no combination in the team, they have kept required players out of the squad. They did so with Fakhar Zaman due to his statement (against PCB) and now brought him back into the team. He was a key member of this team and has proven that in the past,” he added.

Pakistan attack will be led by Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf while Abrar Ahmed is the sole specialist spinner in their squad with Khushdil Shah and Salman Agha contributing with part-time spin.

The 44-year-old further highlighted Pakistan’s weakness in batting and bowling departments and said there is no quality spinner in their attack.

“Pakistan have many issues, they have brought in Imam-ul-Haq as Fakhar’s replacement. There are two or three players who are good but apart from them, I don’t see anyone. They don’t have a good bowling attack. Shaheen’s pace has dropped, Haris Rauf is unpredictable as he can concede 100 to 80 runs in a match and he hasn’t picked his line and length. Abrar Ahmed is an average spinner, he is no genius… I think Noman Ali should play in ODIs as Pakistan have no quality spinner in the format,” Kaneria said.