Lahore washout confirms Australia's semi-final spot

Match abandoned. As a result of this washout, Australia are through to the semis. Afghanistan are on the brink of elimination. "The umpires took a look at 8:45 and decided it wouldn't be possible," Fidel reports.

No Starc. No Cummins. No Hazlewood. No problem for Australia. Although Johnson was erratic with the new ball, the spinners and Johnson himself were excellent with the older ball, helping Australia limit Afghanistan to 273. Head ran away to a 34-ball fifty before the Lahore rain stopped him and Australia in their tracks.

Australia will be concerned by Short's quad injury, which hampered his batting and running in the chase.

It's a shame that rain has had the final say once again in the Champions Trophy. It has been that kind of a tournament.

Umpires Alex Wharf and Kumar Dharmasena are out for the inspection. "The pools have mostly been depleted, but there are some very sodden areas of the surface," Fidel reports from Lahore. The bowling run-ups at the College End are of particular concern (groundstaff had been late to cover that area, because the rains worsened dramatically). They are using foam to draw up water from the top surface in that strip of the ground while the super sopper works the outfield."

Not great signs but we're still about 90 minutes away from the cut-off time.

We will have an inspection at 8.45pm local time. In case you're wondering, we've started to lose overs.

The groundstaff are out to peel off the covers and work on the wet patches on the field.

"Drying operation has begun," Fidel says. "Only one super sopper out there, though. It will take a long while."

There are huge pools of water in various places on the outfield. "It'll take two hours at a minimum to get going, even when it stops drizzling," reckons Fidel Fernando from Lahore.

Rain arrives in the 13th over of the chase, and it's heavy enough to result in a stoppage in play. Australia are 109 for 1, and their asking rate has dropped to 4.43.

"Definitely worsened," reports Fidel Fernando from Lahore. "It's not going to be a quick turnaround even if rain stops suddenly. Enough rain has fallen on the outfield.

"The rain is also seriously emptying the stands (there is no overhead cover for most of the fans). They're all piling out at record speed, maybe to seek shelter underneath the stands. Had built up to about 75% capacity, almost all Afghan fans."

Head is threatening to end Afghanistan's dreams with a typically fast fifty. He's got there off just 34 balls. He's happy to stay leg-side of the ball and give it a good whack. He was particularly severe on Farooqi, taking him for 28 off 17 balls. Also, Afghanistan have been feeding his strengths with some erratic bowling. Bad news for Afghanistan: Head looks good for more.

Kharote, the sub fielder, drops Short on 19 at deep square leg off Omarzai. Kharote runs in from deep square leg but shells the chance, gesticulating that he'd lost the white thing under lights. Two balls later, Short offers up another catch, this is held by Naib at mid-on. The drop costs Afghanistan just one run. Naib flexes his muscles and shows off. Are Afghanistan onto something?

Omarzai's second over costs Afghanistan 14 runs as Short takes him for 4,6,4. He's still struggling to move his feet but throws his hands at the ball and manufactures enough power to find the boundary.

In the next over, Farooqi draws a chance but Rashid, believe it or not, drops Head at mid-on. Head was on 6. What happens to the next ball? Disappears over square leg for six.

Matt Short is apparently nursing an injury but has come out to open the batting for Australia in their pursuit of 274. He has some discomfort moving his feet, so he just throws his hands at the ball. Will it impact Head's approach as well?

Wickets tumbled around Omarzai, but he countered it and cracked a 54-ball half-century to drag Afghanistan to a more competitive 273 from 199 for 7. Australia's seamers kept bowling into the pitch and kept taking pace off but Omarzai manufactured pace for himself and tonked five sixes and a four.

Three of the five sixes came off the bowling of Nathan Ellis. The pick of the lot was his lusty club off a blameless hard-length delivery outside off into the sightscreen, straight over Ellis' head. Shahidi expected the Lahore pitch to slow down even further in the chase. Over to Afghanistan's spinners with a semi-final spot at stake. No signs of dew.

After Omarzai shovels the ball through midwicket, he calls Noor through for a single. At the striker's end, Noor wanders out of his crease, assuming the ball is dead and that the over is done. Just to be clear: Noor wasn't searching for an extra run. An alert Inglis, though, gathers the throw and takes the bails off. Inglis launches into a run-out appeal, prompting the on-field umpires to get together. Captain Smith, though, intervenes and withdraws the run-out appeal from his keeper.

If Smith had not withdrawn the appeal, Noor would have been ruled out, likely by TV Richard Kettleborough.

When Dwarshuis digs it short and offers width outside off, Rashid frees his arms and scythes him over point for four. Dwarshuis keeps his length short but straightens his line and cramps Rashid next ball, having him flap a catch to long-on for 19 off 17 balls. Omarzai or bust for Afghanistan. They're actually in danger of being bowled out.

He's the joint third-fastest Afghan player to the mark after Zadran (24), Gurbaz (27) and Rahmat (31)

Nabi and Naib fall in a space of three overs to leave Afghanistan at 199 for 7. After struggling to control the early swing and seam, Johnson looked more comfortable with the old ball. Ellis has also come to life with the old ball, digging it into the used surface while often taking pace off. It might be Omarzai or bust for Afghanistan although Rashid is also a capable batter.

The Afghanistan captained dawdled to 20 off 49 balls. That strike rate is the third lowest by an Afghan batter in ODIs (min 40 balls faced) since 2020. Shahidi's 22 off 54 against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2023 and 17 off 40 against the same opposition in Sharjah in 2024 also features in the top five of this list.

Afghanistan had gone 33 balls without a boundary, but Omarzai breaks the drought with a slog-swept six over midwicket in the 35th over. However, it doesn't really dent Short's figures. Australia have burgled seven overs from him for a mere 21 runs. That six from Omarzai turns out to be the first boundary off Short in this game.

Afghanistan, however, slip again in the next over as Shahidi miscues a sweep off Zampa and skies it to square leg for 20 off 49 balls. Shahidi tried to go over short fine leg but ended up top-edging it squarer. Afghanistan are 176 for 5 in the 36th over.

He falls 15 short of hundred. Atal had dumped Zampa out of the attack with a brace of sixes, but Johnson returns with the old ball and cuts his innings short. Fullish and outside off, didn't look like a slower ball, but it surely stopped on Atal, having him check his drive and spoon it to Smith at short cover. Afghanistan are 159 for 4 in the 32nd over.

Andrew Fidel Fernando from Lahore: This feels basically like a home game for Afghanistan, by the way. A few Travis Head fans on the way in, but stands overwhelmingly pro-Afghanistan, with lots of republic flags and facepaint. In general lots of support for Afghanistan in Pakistan since Pakistan crashed out.

It's his third fifty-plus score in eight ODI innings. Atal reaches the landmark in grand style with a six off Maxwell over mid-on, off 64 balls.

Two balls later, Shahidi almost runs past a slider from Maxwell, but ekes out an inside edge that nutmegs Inglis. With two lefties in the middle, Smith has paired Maxwell up with another offspinner in Short.

Afghanistan slip to 91 for 3 in the 19th over after Maxwell has Rahmat nicking behind to the keeper for 12 off 21 balls. After Rahmat had put a rank long-hop away to the boundary, Maxwell went much fuller and snagged the outside edge with the sharp angle from around the stumps. Afghanistan continue to wobble around Atal. For Australia, the spinners are doing the job on a used strip.

After having survived new-ball bursts from Johnson and Dwarshuis, Ibrahim Zadran tries to line up Zampa, but ends up carving a half-tracker straight to point for 22 off 28 balls. Zadran knows that he's given it away. He's filthy with himself. Rahmat joins Atal with Afghanistan on 70 for 2 in the 14th over.

Here's Sampath Bandarupalli, our stats whiz: Afghanistan batters were beaten 20 times in the first ten overs today. No other full-member team had more plays and misses in the first ten overs of a men's ODI innings since 2023. Australian batters were also beaten 20 times in their first ten overs against England at Lord's last year.

There's a lot to like about 23-year-old Sediqullah Atal. Though he kept playing and missing in the early exchanges, his temperament was unflappable. It's because of that temperament and poise that Afghanistan have him at No.3, a spot occupied by Rahmat Shah for more than 100 ODIs. With Zadran and Gurbaz at the top, there was no room for Atal there. So, they have pushed him down to No.3 and Rahmat to No.4.

The movement - both vertical and lateral - has dissipated and Atal has settled in with cover-driven and flicked fours off Johnson whose scattergun approach is hurting Australia. Zadran is doing his thing at the other end: absorbing good balls and putting away the bad ones. Afghanistan are 63 for 1 in 11 overs.

The new ball is hooping around corners.

The cordon is packed.

All the edges are under threat. This seems a passage of play straight outta Test cricket.

But Johnson and Dwarshuis haven't been able to control the swing and seam. Zadran and Atal battle for Afghanistan.

After a rusty start - 2lb and a leg-side wide off his first two balls - Johnson tightens up and proceeds to proceeds to blitz through the defences of Gurbaz with a ripping inswinging yorker, in the first over. "It's almost Starc-like," as Ian Smith puts it on commentary. Full, fast (141ks), swings back in late against the angle from left-arm over the wicket and thuds into the base of off stump. Gurbaz's scores in CT25 so far: 10,6,0. Not the kind of output Afghanistan might have been looking for from one of their main batters.

In his next over, Johnson beats both Atal and Inglis, the keeper, with hooping inswingers for 4 byes and 5 wides. Johnson also goes past the outside edge of Zadran. The brand-new ball is doing a lot, especially for Johnson, in Lahore this afternoon. Johnson is generating both swing and seam movement to trouble Afghanistan's top order.

Since this is a used pitch (England and Australia played on this strip), Shahidi expects it to slow down even further later in the evening. Smith says Australia don't mind bowling first. Both Afghanistan and Australia are unchanged. So Abbott misses out once again for Australia.

Australia: 1 Matt Short, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Josh Inglis, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Spencer Johnson

Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Sediqullah Atal, 4 Rahmat Shah, 5 Hashmatullah Shahidi(capt), 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Gulbadin Naib, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

The rain has stayed away for now in Lahore and this high-stakes contest is set for an on-time start. There was a heavy downpour on the eve of the game with Afghanistan having cancelled their optional training session on Thursday, but the conditions are dry right now. Ian Bishop says the "outfield is good" despite the rain on Thursday. Matthew Hayden calls the pitch "an absolute belter."