Cricket

Aussies peaking at right time ahead of Proteas semi-final, says Starc

The groups meet within the second World Cup semi-final in Kolkata on Thursday.

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

The five-time champions tackle South Africa within the second semi-final in Kolkata on Thursday after the 2 groups ended on 14 factors every within the group stage.

Australia misplaced a one-day sequence in South Africa adopted by a sequence defeat to India ahead of the World Cup.

They then suffered opening defeats at the match to the hosts by six wickets and the Proteas by an enormous 134 runs.

‘Peaking at the right time’

“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-quick 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 semi-final.”

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

They have been runners-up within the inaugural version in 1975 after which once more in 1996, reached the quarter-finals in 2011 and misplaced to eventual winners England within the 2019 semi-finals.

Starc, who was half of Australia’s 2015 ODI and 2021 T20 World Cup triumphs, mentioned the skilled crew 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 performed so much of one-day cricket …(performing in large matches) shouldn’t be one thing that’s actually 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 have overwhelmed South Africa twice in World Cup semi-finals in 1999 and 2007. Both instances they 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.

In all, he has 230 wickets within the format.

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

Tactics and variations

The lack of reverse swing, because of two balls being utilized in every innings at the World Cup, seems to be one of the elements for Starc’s lack of wickets.

“There’s a lot of contributing factors,” he mentioned. “The wickets have definitely been two very completely different wickets, what will get by the day and thru the evening.

“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.”

Starc, who missed so much of cricket after the Ashes due a shoulder and groin harm, didn’t reveal the explanation for sitting out the final match towards 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.”


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