Australia ‘peaking at right time’ at World Cup, says Starc

Mitchell Starc on Monday mentioned Australia has lived as much as its status of “peaking at the right time” after overcoming a shaky begin to win seven straight World Cup matches.

The five-time champion takes on South Africa within the second semifinal in Kolkata on Thursday after the 2 groups ended on 14 factors every within the group stage.

Australia misplaced a one-day collection in South Africa, adopted by a collection defeat to India forward of the World Cup.

It then suffered opening defeats on the event to the host by six wickets and the Proteas by an enormous margin of 134 runs.

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“It’s been quite busy, the guys who were in Africa as well, I think we counted it’s like our 15th flight since we’ve been in India,” Starc mentioned on the gruelling schedule.

“For the guys who were in Africa as well, it’s been a jam-packed 10 or 11 weeks. It’s a World Cup, it’s what we play for. We seem to be peaking at the right time, which Australia tend to do in tournament play.”

The left-arm fast added: “Whilst we didn’t start the way we wanted to, we’ve certainly had good contributions from individuals along the way, and we find ourselves in another World Cup semifinal.”

Australia has been probably the most profitable workforce within the World Cup with 5 title wins – 1987 (India), 1999 (England), 2003 (South Africa), 2007 (West Indies) and 2015 (Australia and New Zealand) editions.

It was runner-up within the inaugural version in 1975 after which once more in 1996, reached the quarterfinals in 2011 and misplaced to eventual winner England within the 2019 semifinals.

Starc, who was a part of Australia’s 2015 ODI and 2021 T20 World Cup triumphs, mentioned the skilled workforce is not going to be overawed by Thursday’s event at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens.

‘Calm group’

“Whether it’s goosebumps or not, it’s just another game,” he mentioned. “I’ve played a lot of one-day cricket…(performing in big matches) is not something that’s really spoken about.

“It’s a very calm group, this one, and fairly experienced with a couple of younger, less experienced guys gelling in really nicely.”

Australia has crushed South Africa twice in World Cup semifinals in 1999 and 2007. Both instances, it went on to win the title.

Starc, 33, and a veteran of 119 one-day internationals was the main bowler within the World Cups of 2015 and 2019 with 22 and 27 wickets, respectively.

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In all, he has 230 wickets within the format.

He and fellow fast Pat Cummins have 10 wickets every within the event to date, with teammate and leg-spinner Adam Zampa main the bowling charts with 22.

The lack of reverse swing, attributable to two balls being utilized in every innings on the World Cup, seems to be one of many components for Starc’s lack of wickets.

Australia’s Adam Zampa celebrates with captain Pat Cummins after taking the wicket of Bangladesh’s Litton Das throughout the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between Australia and Bangladesh, at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, in Pune, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023.
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PTI

“There’s a lot of contributing factors,” he mentioned. “The wickets have certainly been two very different wickets, what gets through the day and through the night.

“Speed is not the be-all and end-all over here in India, as well. How you go about that tactically, and whether it’s variations, or what time you bowl through a game, or whether you win or lose a toss (can affect potency).”

“I certainly haven’t been at the level that I would have liked. But now there’s a chance at the pointy end to make the biggest impact.”

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Starc, who missed quite a lot of cricket after the Ashes attributable to a shoulder and groin harm, didn’t reveal the rationale for sitting out the final match in opposition to Bangladesh.

“If I only played when I was 100 per cent, I would have probably played 10 games,” he mentioned.

“All bowlers around the world deal with stuff, we just don’t have to talk about it like batters do.”