Cricket World Cup 2019: Glenn Maxwell talks up Steve Smith’s matchwinning capabilities with ball

With top spot on the line against South Africa, Glenn Maxwell, for one, would fully endorse if the Aussies again turned to the surreal spin offerings of a player he describes as ‘extremely skilful.’

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Steve Smith has been hailed a “freakish talent” after bowling both off-spin and leg-spin against New Zealand as Australia targets first place on the World Cup ladder that would set up a semi-final rematch against the Kiwis.

The Aussies will lock in top spot with victory against South Africa on Saturday night, allowing them to stay in Manchester for the first semi-final against the team they smashed by 86 runs last week.

That would also ensure Australia dodges a suddenly-resurgent England with the host nation locked into third place after convincing wins against India and New Zealand.

Steve Smith took his first ODI wicket for five years against the Kiwis.

Smith was nervous before pulling off his Sachin Tendulkar-esque bowling tricks at Lord’s, which left Kiwi batsman Jimmy Neesham stunned and helped deliver the former captain his first ODI wicket in five years.

“It caught me off guard,” teammate Glenn Maxwell said.

“I was at cover and (Smith) goes, ‘I think I am going to bowl offies’ and I said, ‘Really?’. He said, ‘Geez, I am nervous about this’. It was just a short boundary to a left-hander.

“If he'd tried to bowl leggies they probably would have taken him on. It certainly caught them off guard as well. I saw the look in Jimmy Neesham's face and he was like, what was that?”

Smith bowled leg-spin to the right-handers and off-spin to the left-handers with a looping delivery to Colin de Grandhomme mishit to Usman Khawaja in the deep.

Steve Smith bellows instructions to his fielders.

“He is a freak. Even today at training he was just changing ball to ball and still being able to land them. He's extremely skilful,” Maxwell said.

“(He was) putting pressure on both edges of the bat by changing it from off-spin to leg-spin.

“Leg-spin is a pretty hard thing, especially when you only practice it half the time. It just shows what a talent he is.”

While coach Justin Langer said last week he was unfazed which ground Australia played its semi-final at – Old Trafford (Manchester) or Edgbaston (Birmingham) – Maxwell wants to avoid another travel day.

“The incentive to finish top would be great. To get as much time as you can in one place, you don't have to pack your bags again,” he said.

“It feels like we did a lot of that early on in the tournament. We had four games in nine days at one stage where it was pack, unpack, pack, unpack repeatedly. To have that at this end of the tournament would be nice.

Glenn Maxwell is in awe of Smith’s ‘freakish ability’.

“What a place Manchester is, I would love to stay here.”

The Kiwis have lost their past three games but should regain thunderbolt Lockie Ferguson, who was taken the second-most wickets behind Mitchell Starc, from a hamstring injury for Tuesday’s semi-final.

Australia will still finish first if it loses to South Africa and India loses to Sri Lanka.

But if India wins and Australia loses then Langer’s men will be off to Birmingham to face England in the second semi-final, with two fewer days to recover for a possible final.

Pakistan is effectively eliminated, given it would have to beat Bangladesh by about 350-400 runs against Bangladesh to overtake New Zealand in fourth place on net run-rate.