Smith says it's win or bust for Australia against England

"I guess we've just got to beat England." That was Steven Smith's matter-of-fact conclusion after Australia were denied an almost-certain victory over Bangladesh at The Oval by the English weather. Having been saved from a potential defeat to New Zealand at Edgbaston in their previous match, Australia were left with two points from two games - but with destiny still in their own hands ahead of their last Group A fixture against England on Saturday in Birmingham.

Smith was frustrated but understanding after rain ruined Australia's attempts to chase a target of less than four an over, which was set up by Mitchell Starc's four-wicket haul that saw Bangladesh dismissed for 182 in 44.3 overs.

"Disappointing not to get a result but we can't do much about the weather," he said. "The equation is pretty simple for us now. We have to beat England and I think then we're through."

This fixture was the first day-night match of the tournament but rain was forecast to arrive during the evening, which it duly did with Australia four overs short of the 20 required to constitute an officially completed game. Although the showers did relent long enough to allow the umpires, Nigel Llong and Chris Gaffaney, to inspect at 8 pm and schedule a restart for 8.30 pm - with seven overs lost - rainfall returned almost immediately, causing the groundstaff to cover the pitch again, to desultory cheers from the remaining Bangladesh fans in The Oval.

Australia's sense of frustration was compounded by the fact that at 83 for 1, they were well ahead of the 20-over Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score of 48 despite having only batted 16 overs. Smith had blocked five balls from Mashrafe Mortaza with rain falling as he tried to hurry the innings through but, with the umpires appearing to signal for drinks, the downfall intensified and the players were taken off for the first time.

Although the Bangladesh innings finished early, at around 4.40 pm, play couldn't restart until 5.30 pm due to drizzle during the interval. The umpires then took the players off at 6.43 pm, meaning Bangladesh were only slightly behind the required rate of four-minute overs. The rain then stopped for around 45 minutes later in the evening but Llong and Gaffaney felt there was too much mopping up required to get the game going straight away and any chance to get in the four overs required slipped by.

"A little bit frustrating," Smith said of that missed opportunity. "The groundsmen perhaps could have shown a bit more urgency, being a big tournament, but I think they did the best job they could and the umpires said it was an 8.30 pm start, so you've got to do what they say.

"Of course I didn't want to go off, I was happy to keep batting through the rain. But the umpires are there to make a decision and I think drinks was at the end of that over, which probably didn't help. If the game had just carried on, perhaps they may have had a different opinion. But to be fair it was raining reasonably hard when we came off."

The no result means that Australia will have to beat England to go through to the semi-final. However, if that match is also washed out they could still theoretically join England in going through with three points from three no results - if New Zealand's remaining two fixtures against England and Bangladesh are also rained out - due to having a higher seeding than all the other teams in the group. The high chance of rain affecting the England-New Zealand match in Cardiff on Tuesday may add to the intrigue.

The computation for Bangladesh is slightly simpler, with a win required against New Zealand at Cardiff on Friday in their final match to stay in the hunt for a semi-final spot. A win over New Zealand combined with a pair of England wins over Australia and New Zealand would guarantee Bangladesh a place in the semis. Yet, Bangladesh could still miss out on the semi-finals on three points, having suffered a hit to their run rate in defeat to England last week. They would also miss out, regardless of a win over New Zealand, if England beat New Zealand on Tuesday and Australia beat England on Saturday in which case both England and Australia would end the group stage on four points.

Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh's captain, was nevertheless happy that his team remained alive in the tournament and referenced the point gained from a similar abandonment against Australia in the 2015 World Cup - when they qualified from the group stage at England's expense - as reason to be optimistic.

"I can remember in the 2015 World Cup, we got one point from Australia and it really helped us go through," he said. "This time we've got a straight chance, even though we have to beat New Zealand. So our job is to play hard against New Zealand and you never know.

"If you look at today's match, I think Australia was far ahead of us. But in the last match, against New Zealand, I think Australia were in the same position. You can't do anything with the weather so, as I said, both teams are now in the situation where Australia has to win against England and we have a great chance to beat New Zealand and go through."

Advantage England as New Zealand face must-win match

It would be over-stating things a little to say there was a sigh of relief in the England camp after launching their tournament with victory over Bangladesh. In the end they coasted the run chase, but the day was not without its concerns. Chris Woakes' side strain has turned out to be tournament-ending; there was a lack of wicket-taking threat for a large chunk of Bangladesh's innings and Jason Roy's mind looked a little frazzled when he tried to scoop his way back into form.

However, it all came together fairly serenely after that with Alex Hales, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan making light work of a target that, two years ago, would have left England cowering in a corner. And it felt as if they could have chased substantially more if needed. They might have to as the tournament progresses. Victory here will put them in the semi-finals, although the match may have to dodge the showers.

New Zealand's over-riding emotion after their first match will have been frustration. Kane Williamson is too sanguine to let it show, but few would have forgiven him if he wanted to kick something inside the Edgbaston dressing-room as the rain closed in with his side on top against Australia. Such positions do not come easily, even if Australia were below their best.

The way they set up their innings had more than a hint of 2015 about it, as Luke Ronchi blazed away with a slightly-less convincing remake of Brendon McCullum's gung-ho approach. Then Williamson was serene, but they could not kick on. Ross Taylor couldn't quite find an extra gear and the rest of the order floundered. Neil Broom's 14 off 19 balls was particularly problematic to the momentum and consideration may need to be given to some flexible thinking over the order.

When these two sides last met in one-day cricket in 2015, the runs flowed in record-breaking fashion: at the time it was the highest-scoring five-match series as England, showing that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, took on New Zealand's one-day mindset (and took it to greater heights) as the sides hurtled along in each other's slipstream. Given fine weather - and fingers are crossed on that front - this could be a humdinger.

Form guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WLWWW
New Zealand LWWWL

In the spotlight
In football a vote of confidence often means a struggling manager is out of a job a few days later. But if we are to take Morgan on his word, it won't matter whether Jason Roy scores runs or not, he won't lose his place at the top of the order. At the moment, England are managing to carry him without too much fuss, but while Root and Hales have a prolific record together, it can't always be banked on: 20 for 2 in tournament cricket is a different kettle of fish to a bilateral series. After the South Africa series, Trevor Bayliss sounded a little less unequivocal over Roy than Morgan. Another failure could test England's faith.

It has been a tough tournament for bowlers so far but, albeit in a small sample size, Adam Milne caught the eye before rain intervened against Australia. He struck in each of his two overs, removing Aaron Finch and Moises Henriques, with a splice-jarring length which zipped off the surface. Pace can be a double-edged sword - the faster it comes, the faster it goes - but harnessed well it can be match-winning.

Team news

Steven Finn could come straight into the side to replace Chris Woakes and there may be other tinkering with the attack, too. However, Adil Rashid could find himself unwanted again; in England's two ODIs on this ground last year they played just one frontline spinner due to the short, straight boundaries. David Willey could come into contention to replace the struggling Jake Ball - he would also offer some extra batting to compensate for Woakes' absence.

England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 David Willey/Jake Ball, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Mark Wood

New Zealand are expected to name an unchanged XI with faith shown in Broom at No. 5 and Jeetan Patel likely to be kept out of the side.

New Zealand 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Luke Ronchi (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 James Neesham 7 Corey Anderson, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent Boult

Pitch and conditions

The pitch was covered throughout Monday as heavy rain fell but the forecast is a little better for match-day although showers, and strong winds, are forecast. Whoever wins the toss will surely bowl first. Cardiff has short straight boundaries, especially towards the River Taff, and long square ones which could tempt the quick bowlers to opt for a short-pitched approach.

Stats and trivia

In 50-over world tournaments (World Cup and Champions Trophy), New Zealand have won six of their last seven matches against England. However, their only defeat in that time came in the 2013 Champions Trophy, which was also in Cardiff, the venue for Tuesday's match.
Adil Rashid, who was left out against Bangladesh, is far and away England's most successful wicket-taker in the middle overs (11-40) among the current crop. Since the 2015 World Cup he has claimed 51 wickets at 35.35 and an economy of 5.61. His fellow spinner, Moeen Ali, has a far higher average of 57.43 in that same period but a significantly better economy of 5.08.
Since taking his career-best 7 for 33 against England in Wellington, Tim Southee's one-day returns have dipped. In his next 29 matches, he has taken 28 wickets. Since the World Cup, Southee's average of 48.45 is third-from-bottom among the 37 bowlers who have bowled 150+ overs since that tournament.
Quotes
"What looked like a reasonably good pitch yesterday, with an extra 24 hours under the hot, sweaty cover might change things in the morning. But we'll just have to wait and see how it turns up."
Eoin Morgan says that the wet conditions has left him pondering selection

"Their batting line-up is very long and if you get it wrong and don't get wickets, then you can chase a very high score. We know we'll have play well, as well as we did against Australia if not a little bit better."

Mike Hesson, New Zealand's coach, is braced for the challenge of taking on the tournament favourites.