MORGAN AIMS TO DISMISS AUSSIES

EOIN MORGAN called for England to complete a perfect Champions Trophy group-stage performance by knocking out Australia at Edgbaston on Saturday. England are guaranteed to finish top of Group A after hammering New Zealand by 87 runs at Cardiff yesterday and can now deny their old rivals a place in the last four with a third straight win. ‘We’ll go into it with a very serious attitude,’ said captain Morgan. ‘We never take any position we’re in for granted. If we’re truly going to be contenders in this tournament, we need to beat the best teams. ‘Australia are always one of the best teams at white-ball tournaments, so to go into a game with no other attitude than winning is very important to us.’ New Zealand captain Kane Williamson praised England’s bowlers after his side lost their last eight wickets for 65 in pursuit of a testing 311. ‘There were signs that if you did hit a length hard, you could get something out of the surface,’ he said. ‘The English exploited it very well with their cross-seamers and didn’t give us much to hit.’ Williamson seemed to glance accusingly at the surface after he was caught behind for 87 off a Mark Wood delivery that reared off a length. But he insisted: ‘It bounced a bit more than I expected and hit my glove. It happens.’ England seamer Jake Ball said: ‘It was about trying to put it in the right area and, hopefully, something would happen. ‘We’ve got one more game against the Aussies and it would be nice to beat them and go unbeaten in the group stage.’ Meanwhile, Chris Woakes could miss the first two Tests against South Africa after being diagnosed with a grade-two tear in his side.