Australia are peaking at the right time for a crack at their fifth World Cup triumph and will go into next month’s tournament at home on top of the rankings. Under the attacking coaching of Darren Lehmann, Australia have registered some impressive results and have only lost one of their past 11 one-day internationals.
Australia accounted for third-ranked South Africa 4-1 in a series at home in November last year and have begun their current tri-series with wins over England and India.
Lehmann and fellow selectors have assembled a strong squad around a core of key players — David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson and possibly skipper Michael Clarke, fitness issues depending.
Clarke has been troubled by hamstring and back problems throughout the southern summer and selectors have imposed a deadline of Feb. 21 on the star batsman to add some certainty to their team deliberations.
Given Smith’s phenomenal form with the bat this season — three ODI centuries since October — there are those who say Australia may not even miss Clarke’s leadership and batting.
Australia’s biggest challenge will be how the team handles the external pressures as the host nation. Australia did not cope in 1992 when they last hosted the sport’s showpiece, missing out on the semi-finals.
“How they deal with that pressure is going to be as important because they’ve got the players and the skill sets to be able to win this World Cup, it’s just how they manage the pressure around being the home team,” India batting great Rahul Dravid said.
The home team have traditional rivals England first up on Feb. 14 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the venue for the March 29 final.
Australia also face Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh and associate teams Afghanistan and Scotland in their pool and will have home advantage for all but their pool game against the Black Caps in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 28.
Much will depend on Australia’s ability to get quick runs at the top of the innings and they have the right ammunition with adventurous opening pair of Aaron Finch and Warner.
Warner has three ODI centuries, including a recent 127 off 115 deliveries against England in the tri-series, while Finch has five tons, four of them last year.
Throw in Smith, the experienced Shane Watson, possibly George Bailey depending on Clarke’s availability, batting all-rounders Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh and Australia have plenty of runs in their ranks.
Mitchell Johnson, the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of 2014, is to lead the bowling attack with fellow left-armer Mitchell Starc, while Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins also offer pace and venom.
While Australian are stocked with fast bowlers, there is some concern over the selection of Xavier Doherty as the specialist attacking spinner.
Meanwhile, Warner has been told by Cricket Australia to “stop looking for trouble” after his recent clash with India batsman Rohit Sharma.
The explosive opener was fined half his one-day match fee by the ICC for confronting Sharma and demanding he “speak English” during Australia’s four-wicket win in Melbourne this month.
New Zealand cricket great Martin Crowe called Warner’s behavior “thuggish” and slammed him as being the most juvenile cricketer he had ever seen.
However, it is like water off a duck’s back for coach Lehmann, who said: “David’s an aggressive character and we support that. It’s just making sure he does the right thing on the ground.”
“We’ll work with him with that,” Lehmann said.
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