Pressure on England rather than Australia in semi-final battle, insists Lyon

• Australia finished second in the group standings to set up a last-four meeting with England
• England lost to Australia by 64 runs at Lord’s when they clashed in the round-robin stage

Australia may have finished above England in the table and already beaten them at this World Cup but Nathan Lyon is adamant his team will be underdogs when the sides clash in a blockbuster semi-final.

Australia suffered a 10-run defeat to South Africa at Old Trafford in their final group game, allowing India to leapfrog them at the summit – setting up a last-four clash against England at Edgbaston, rather than New Zealand in Manchester.

Justin Langer’s men have already downed the hosts once at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, when they completed a dominant 64-run win at Lord’s last week.

And Lyon is relishing the rematch in Birmingham on Thursday, when a place in the final will be on the line – choosing to start the mind games early.

“We're playing against the number one team, and they're favourites to win the World Cup,” said the Australian off-spinner.

“It's going to be a massive challenge. We're playing against England, in England, in a semi-final: it doesn't get much better.

“Every time you play against England you want to compete hard against them and try to come out on top. Their side is full of absolute superstars and we're definitely going in as underdogs.

“They've been the number one team for a couple of years now. It’s all on them – it's their World Cup to lose. We've got nothing to lose – we've only got stuff to gain, and that's the exciting thing about it.

“We're going to go out there, compete, have fun and do it with a smile on our face. I feel like there's a very special thing just around the corner for Australian cricket and the whole Australian public.

“Our momentum got halted a little bit here but we’ll train our backsides off, prepare well, have elite professionalism and make sure come Thursday that we’re firing.”

Australia’s preparation for that game wasn’t ideal, as they suffered defeat to a Proteas side that made 325/6 batting first and then just about held off a chase spearheaded by David Warner and Alex Carey.

Normally a man to tie up an end during the middle of the innings, Lyon was brought on as a first-change bowler after just six overs and enjoyed the novel experience as he eventually dismissed both of South Africa’s openers.

“It was exciting,” he added. “I want to challenge myself against the best players and obviously Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock are world-class players.

“To get that opportunity was a great challenge. I was mostly trying to attack Quinton and defend against Aiden but it was a pretty good wicket, so it didn’t offer me too much.

“I was pleased with how I kept going to get those wickets though.”