Cricket World Cup: Australia now boasts four of the top seven ODI batters in the world

Australia already had the best ODI batter in the world, and World Cup blitzes have shown just how deep the talent goes.

Australia's Alyssa Healy loves being part of a ‘formidable’ batting line-up. Picture: Marty Melville / AFP

Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner could exit Covid isolation and add her own blistering batting for Australia’s World Cup showdown with New Zealand on Sunday in what looms as another run-fest.

Having taken over as the leading run scorer in one-day internationals at Bay Oval on Tuesday, Australian captain Meg Lanning jumped to No.2 on the International Cricket Council’s batting rankings, behind only player of the match Alyssa Healy.

The World Cup favourites boast four of the top seven ODI batters in the world, with Beth Mooney at five and opening match centurion Rachael Haynes at seven.

It makes for a formidable line-up and one Healy, who smashed 72 in her team’s take-down of Pakistan on Tuesday, knows will determine whether or not Australia lifts the trophy at the end of the tournament despite the side also boasting the No.1-ranked ODI bowler in Jess Jonassen.

“It is our strength and we back our bowling attack to be able to defend whatever our batting group can get,” Healy said.

“We’re playing some really good cricket and hopefully we can continue doing that right through the tournament.”

Australia's Alyssa Healy is back to her best. Picture: Marty Melville / AFP

Those four batters, plus superstar Ellyse Perry, are the only ones to get a hit for Australia across the opening two wins. They have scored 503 runs in just 84 overs.

The bowlers took eight English wickets in the opening hame but only three against Pakistan, putting a premium on big scores.

Healy said the capacity of one or more of the top five to “be firing” in any given game could decide Australia’s tournament fate.

“The beauty of it is we can’t all be firing at one point in time, but we back ourselves to pick up where someone else left off,” she said.

“You look at the other day (against England), I felt like I was hitting the ball really well early, and then sort of (Haynes) picked up after that and Meg came in took a bit of pressure off Rach. And then Rach went on and made 130.

Rachael Haynes went big against England. Picture: Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images

“And I think that’s just the beauty of our line-up, that we sort of take the pressure off one another and it’s a really, really strong top six, and then you throw in what we’ve got after that, and it’s a really explosive middle and low order.”

The possible inclusion of Gardner, who tested positive to Covid-19 on the eve of the tournament, only adds to the firepower.

“It’s such an amazing batting line-up to be a part of,” Healy said.

“It’s a pretty formidable batting line-up, so we’re pretty blessed and it can, I guess, give us the freedom to go out there play our shots and put our side into good positions to win any game.”

Originally published as Cricket World Cup: Australia now boasts four of the top seven ODI batters in the world