“We still haven’t put the perfect game together,” Mitchell Starc told ABC radio just after Australia wrapped up a win against England and all but sealed a World Cup semi-final spot. It’s a common refrain in sport, the idea that even in success there remains something more to strive for. In theory it is what keeps athletes turning up at training day after day, year after year. Higher, faster, stronger, or the Daft Punk variation – take your pick.
Five wins in a row for Australia at this World Cup after losing the first two, and Starc is right to identify things to improve. Opening bowling was one thing that Australia did get better at in Ahmedabad on Saturday night. Middle-order batting is one that still needs work.
The middle order was what sank in a mire of dot balls in the losses to India and South Africa. The wins have relied on the openers scoring quickly up the top and Glenn Maxwell marshalling some assistance to do the same at the far end.
Against Sri Lanka, a modest chase was whacked on the head by Mitchell Marsh, then finished off by Maxwell’s 31 from 21 balls. Against Pakistan it was David Warner and Marsh’s stand of 259, followed by a subsidence after Maxwell didn’t come off. Against New Zealand, Warner and Travis Head made 175 from 19 overs, then came a run slump until Maxwell’s 41 from 24 revived it.
With Maxwell and Marsh out of the side facing England, the challenge sharpened. When Head and Warner both fell to Chris Woakes inside six overs, it started to break the skin. Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne had repair work to do, but like some tradies did it slowly. The run rate they inherited above six an over fell towards four, the pair treating with great suspicion a pitch that sometimes gripped the ball.
Both raised their tempo as time went on, Smith eventually making 44 and Labuschagne 71, the latter’s innings increasingly clever and an important contribution. With a critical eye though, you wonder whether their early approach needs a tweak, because players don’t always get the chance to catch up.
Labuschagne for instance has contributed 272 runs in his seven hits this World Cup, but at a strike rate of 79. Of players with more than 100 runs in this tournament, 46 have scored more quickly. The only one with more runs than him to score more slowly is the Afghanistan captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi.
By the time Adam Zampa came out to bat at No 10, after good innings from Cameron Green and Marcus Stoinis, Australia were still well short on 247. Zampa’s career tally of 256 one-day runs was not far in advance of his 156 wickets, and his score of 29 was his second-best in eight years of international cricket. He was brave but Australia were lucky that he helped them to a competitive 286.
Striking early was key to defending it. First-over wickets are a Starc trademark, and he started this World Cup with one against India. Since then, South Africa put on an opening stand of 108, Sri Lanka 125 and Pakistan 134. New Zealand had 61 by the 8th over, the speed of scoring setting up their near-successful tilt at 389. Even the Dutch stand of 28 was almost one-third of their all-out 90. Starc’s approach at previous World Cups has been monstering opening batters. This time he has fed them instead.
Against England he got his knack back, getting Jonny Bairstow first ball of the innings with one that looked innocuous but still had the pace and swing to get a nick down the leg-side, then getting Joe Root to edge to a catcher twice in the two following overs, one dropped and one claimed. It set England back enough that resistance from Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali could not get them close enough for the lower order to pinch the win.
“As the night progressed and as we can see now, the ground is really wet, and the ball was a bit of a cake of soap,” said Starc. “So, nice to get those wickets at the start, and a couple through the middle there, because we saw it got quite a bit easier to bat when the ball was skidding on and was hard to grip.”
A margin of 33 runs, then – not much room for error. But the points are banked, Marsh is flying back from Australia in time for Tuesday’s match against Afghanistan, and Maxwell has recovered from his head knock. There is the search for the perfect game, but then there is the acknowledgment that the result is the result. Especially once you reach knockout tournament play, simply getting a job done matters far more than how.
