New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) Batting legend Ricky Ponting feels star pacer Mitchell Starc and clever leg-spinner Adam Zampa will be crucial for Australia’s success in the upcoming 2023 ODI World Cup and the duo must be at their best during the mega event.
Speedster Starc was the pick of Australia’s bowlers during the recent ODI series in India with eight wickets as the experienced quick intimidated white-ball specialist Suryakumar Yadav with a pair of golden ducks in the first two fixtures.
The left-arm quick now looms as Australia’s dangerman at the Cricket World Cup later this year after showing he remains a threat even in sub-continent conditions.
Starc has already claimed the most victims outright at the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales, after sharing the honour with Trent Boult in the 2015 tournament.
“It’s the overall package of Mitchell Starc. He’s six-foot-five, bowls in the high 140-km per hour, he’s a left-armer and he swings the new ball back in as Suryakumar found out. When he’s on song, he’s as good as anyone in the world and has been for a long time,” Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
“For lots of strange reasons, there have always been people willing to sit back and take potshots at Mitchell Starc for some of his performances. But if you have a cold hard look at the facts, particularly in white-ball cricket, his numbers are absolutely outstanding.
He’s shown in that series just how dangerous he can be with the new ball, regardless of the conditions,” he added.
Adam Zampa was another of Australia’s attacking threats with the ball in the three ODIs in India, taking four wickets for the series while restricting the hosts to only 4.88 runs an over.
The leg-spinner has now surged to the top of the wicket-takers list in the Cricket World Cup Super League – with 41 victims in 18 matches at an average of 19.73.
“He’s probably been Australia’s key bowler in all white-ball cricket for a long time, along with Mitchell Starc. Starc has been great but Adam Zampa for four or five years now has been a real revelation,” Ponting said.
“He’s been the backbone of the Australian bowling attack which probably led to him being a little bit disappointed not to be picked on a Test tour to India. But he’s an outstanding performer.
For a leg-spinner to become a very, very consistent performer, it’s very rare that teams get on top of him and get hold of him. He’s going to be one of Australia’s trump cards for sure,” he added.
Australia continued their strong ODI form in India when they bounced back from a loss in the first match to claim the next two contests and with them the series.
The 2-1 series result means Australia have now won two of their three ODI series in India since 2019, to show they hold little fear for sub-continent conditions in the white-ball formats.
The 48-year old believes an experienced and all but locked-in batting line-up could also be crucial to the No.1 ranked ODI team winning the Cricket World Cup later this year.
“Obviously, in a World Cup, you want guys that have played a bit of cricket, a little bit of experience, so you don’t want to expose young guys in such a big tournament. I never expected Mitchell Marsh to be opening the batting in ODIs for Australia. I could see him opening the batting T20Is, but not really in ODIs, and he was a real revelation at the top. He played as well as I think I’ve ever seen him play,” the former Australian captain said.
“I was surprised to see David Warner bat at four in that last game. That didn’t really make a lot of sense to me because I don’t think he’ll bat there in the World Cup. I think he’ll go back to the top of the order, which will probably mean that they’ll open with the two left-handers.
Travis Head, if he stays in that team, has to open the batting. He’s much more dangerous against the new ball and the fast bowlers than he is against spin in the middle order. So I think they go back to Travis Head and Warner, Marsh will be at three. Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne somewhere in there, and Glenn Maxwell. They’ve got lots of options,” he added.
–IANS
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