2019 World Cup: England still favourites, says Jason Behrendorff

Behrendorff is not ready to accept that tag of favourite has transferred to the five-time champions, Australia, despite their excellent performance at the home of cricket.

London: Left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff, who claimed fifer against England, rejected the notion that Australia are the team to beat in the World Cup after it handed England 64-runs defeat at the Lord's on Tuesday.

It was Behrendorff's only second appearance in the World Cup. He was called into the side in place of Nathan Coulter Nile. In his very first match at the Lord's, he got his name on the famous honours board with his career's first fifer as England slumped to a heartwrenching defeat.

With this defeat, England's prospect of reaching the last four stage fell under threat. On the other hand, Australia became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals. But, Behrendorff is not ready to accept that tag of favourite has transferred to the five-time champions, Australia, despite their excellent performance at the home of cricket."No, I don't think so," Behrendorff said when asked in a media conference if Australia is the team to beat.

"I think it's something that the competition is still very open. England are still a great side. They are probably still favourites, home country. We aspire to continue just playing good cricket. So I don't think we're favourites, that's for sure.

"Every game that we can win is massive. Especially in a tournament like this, you always talk a lot about momentum, and that's something that's really important. So to continue winning, to continue playing good cricket, we're slowly getting better and better each time and today was another really good result for us."