2. The World Cup’s best bowler is struggling, proving costly.

New Delhi. The performance of the Australian team in the World Cup 2023 has not been as expected so far. The team has suffered two defeats in four matches so far and Pat Cummins’ side are currently fourth in the points table with four points. The Australian team, who faced defeat at the hands of hosts India in their opening match, also faced defeat at the hands of South Africa. Both these defeats have proved to be a deep stain on the reputation of this team. In the match against India, where the Kangaroos collapsed for a paltry score of 199 and lost by six wickets, South Africa embarrassed the five-time world champions by winning by a huge margin of 134 runs.

Simply put, the team is struggling on both the bowling and batting fronts. The Australian team is scheduled to play its fifth match against the Netherlands (Australia vs Netherlands) on Wednesday, October 25.

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Talking about the bowling department, spinner Adam Zampa has been the only bowler to shine while the pillars of fast bowling – Mitchell Starc and captain Cummins have failed to live up to expectations. Mitchell Starc, the highest wicket-taker in the last two World Cups, looked like a shadow of his former performances. Starc, who took 22 wickets at an average of 10.18 and 27 at an average of 18.59 in the 2015 World Cup. In the 2019 World Cup, in four matches of the tournament so far, he has managed to take just 6 wickets at a poor average of 32.

The left-arm bowler has not lived up to captain Cummins’ expectations of leading the team to success on important occasions, besides proving to be costly. Starc’s economy currently stands at 5.48 which cannot be said to live up to his reputation.

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If Australia have to perform well in the upcoming matches and make a place in the final four, then Cummins will also have to perform well in bowling along with Starc. Starc’s strike rate in World Cup 2023 has also been poor so far. His strike rate was 10.18 in World Cup 2015 and 17.3 in World Cup 2019 which has increased to 35.0 this time. His best performance during this period was two wickets for 43 runs.

Naturally, the team expects better performance from its strike bowler. However, Starc’s overall performance in the World Cup has been outstanding. In 22 matches of this prestigious tournament, he has so far taken 55 wickets at an average of 16.69, with 6 for 28 being his best performance. During this period, three times he managed to take 5 or more wickets in an innings.

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In the spin department too, the team is missing Zampa’s supporting bowler. With spinner Aston Agar ruled out due to injury before the World Cup, Zampa remains as the team’s only regular spinner. Although Glenn Maxwell is handling the responsibility of another spinner, it would be unreasonable to expect him to perform well in every match. Indian wickets are generally suited to spin bowling, so Australia may miss a regular spinner in big matches. David Warner and Mitchell Morsch have been in good form with the bat but the team is yet to see big innings from Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.

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Tags: Australia Cricket Team, Mitchell Starc, World Cup 2023