Australia still searching for form at this World Cup but points on the board satisfy Justin Langer - for now
The middle order needs firepower, Usman Khawaja needs a role and Glenn Maxwell needs to bat longer. Australia are winning despite uneven performances at this World Cup.
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Justin Langer exhaled.
Shortly after Aaron Finch’s last-second DRS review helped Australia bank a win against Pakistan, Langer felt relief.
“The best thing about it is we’ve got the points, and we’re nowhere near playing our best cricket yet,” Langer said.
He’s right. Australia has put in four flaky performances and yet has jumped to 3-1. There’s been no rain and no shame for the Aussies, and that record should become 4-1 after Saturday night’s battle with lowly Sri Lanka.
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But against the West Indies, the Aussies started 5/79. Against Pakistan, they finished with 6/30, falling 60 runs short of their expected total.
Mitchell Starc’s death bowling and the class of Patrick Cummins helped Australia defend modest totals in both games.
The targets were made competitive by partnerships between Steve Smith and unlikely hero Nathan Coulter-Nile, and then Aaron Finch and David Warner.
In both matches there were four standouts performers, a couple of cameos and little else.
Even against Afghanistan the Aussies were patchy.
During the middle stretch they conceded 0/83 in 12 overs and then 0/39 in 14 balls, during two brilliant bursts by the winless minnow.
Warner barely middled one of the 114 balls he faced, yet his unbeaten 89 earned him man-of-the-match honours.
Langer said Warner wasn’t dynamic and Finch agreed it was far from a special knock.
“I felt like I had no rhythm,” Warner admitted.
Still, Australia won, and easily. But after four games Australia has been bowled out three times. They were bowled out twice in the past three World Cups combined.
“The boys are a bit weary already,” Langer said.
“It’s (Sri Lanka on Saturday night) a really big game in the context of the competition. But it’s nice to have the points without playing our best cricket, so that’s exciting.”
The hectic schedule now starts to soften. After four games in 10 days, Australia plays its final four games across three weeks.
They will settle into London for nine nights starting on Friday, while family period has begun, meaning wives and girlfriends are now welcome on tour.
But they need help, with both bat and ball.
Starc and Cummins have shared 281 dot balls and 18 wickets, while Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell have shared 273 dots and 10 wickets.
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The middle order needs firepower, and Usman Khawaja needs a role. Maxwell needs to play a longer innings.
But England captain Michael Vaughan reckons they’ve got the best captain, with Finch pulling a win together with just four bowlers and one all-rounder against Pakistan.
At 3-1 they’ve got time to figure it out. But in a month we’ll see whether the force field that runs around Australia at World Cups finally runs out.
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