The most successful team in the ICC ODI World Cup, the mighty Australians never back out from any challenge. Heading into World Cup 2023, the same can be expected from Pat Cummins and his boys. A team that has been plagued by injuries in the recent past, the Men in Yellow are going to be a tough nut to crack for any opponent.
Australia ended their 5-match losing streak to India in the IND vs AUS 3rd ODI match at Rajkot where the visitors defeated the Men in Blue by 66 runs. It was a rather morale victory for Australia who had previously squandered the series to the Men in Blue. But heading into the World Cup, a win against India will surely build a lot of confidence in the Australian squad.
How Australia squad for World Cup 2023 look?
Injury has forced Australia to make a late change to their squad for this year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, with experienced spinner Ashton Agar ruled out of the event with a calf concern. Marnus Labuschagne was originally left out of Australia’s preliminary squad for the tournament, but some good recent form in 50-over cricket against South Africa and India has provided the right-hander a late lifeline.
While Australia decided to swing one last minute change to their squad, the Aussies decided to stick with Travis Head despite the fact that the hard-hitting left-hander is unlikely to be available for the early portion of the tournament due to a fractured hand. Head picked up the injury against South Africa earlier this month and the recent good form of Labuschagne paved the way for the right-hander to come into the squad.
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Australia’s ODI Performance in Last 12 months
Gone are the days when teams shake at the mere mention of the name ‘Australia’. But, the Men in Yellow are surely one of the toughest teams heading into the World Cup. Though hosts India are tipped as favorites to win the title, Australia are close challengers to Rohit Sharma and Co.
The last 12 months have been rather okayish for Australia. Out of the 4 ODI series that they played in this duration, they managed to win 2 twice and ended up losing the other 2. The Men in Yellow did a clean sweep (3-0) when England reached down under.
Up next was the ODI series in March when Australia traveled to India before the IPL in March. India took an early 1-0 lead but the Aussies came back strongly to seal the series 2-1 in their favour.
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Earlier this month, Australia played against South Africa in a 5-match ODI series. Australia took a comfortable 2-0 lead and subsequently dispatched Pakistan to become the Number 1 ranked ODI team in the world. But the Proteas came back strongly and snatched the series 3-2.
Finally comes the Australia tour of India. It was rather plain and simple as both teams tried different experimentations in their preparation for the World Cup. India wrapped the series by winning the first 2 matches but the Aussies won the last match to gain a consolation loss and break their 5 match-losing streak before the World Cup.
Team Australia SWOT Analysis:
Strength
Batting: Australia has one of the best top-order batting lineups in the World. Their top order consists of David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne. A strong and dependable top order makes Australia a strong batting lineup. Each batter has the capacity to win a game on their own virtue. On any day, if these top 4 become set, it will be a huge task for the opponents to stop Australia from placing a big score on the board.
Bowling: The same can be said about the bowling department. When a side has the likes of Pat Cummin, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Adam Zampa in their ranks, it will automatically become a huge difficulty for the opponent batters to score runs past these dangerous bowlers.
X-Factor: They are not serial World Champs without any reason. A bad day in the field for Australia is often a good day for some other team. Therefore it is the X-factor of the team that can help the side to etch out a win. Given any day the side experiences a batting collapse, the bowling unit is so strong that they can defend the target.
Weakness
Inconsistency: Despite having a well-balanced side in both the batting and bowling department the current Australian side is very inconsistent. With batters not scoring big runs in regular intervals and bowlers leaking runs in a flurry can cause a big headache for Pat Cummins.
Injuries: The Australian squad off late has been marred with injuries. Veteran spinner Aston Agar who could have weaved his magic in slow spin-friendly Indian pitches has been ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury. Dependable batter Travis Head has a hand fracture and will miss quite a few matches in the opening part of the tournament. Despite his injury, Head has been shortlisted in the 15-member squad.
Australia’s Key players
Steve Smith: Steven Smith needs no introduction to the cricket fans. Arguably one of the best Australian batters of the current generation and one of the Fab 4 batters, Smith is a vital player for the Aussies. With Indian pitch conditions favoring his playing style, it will be hard to beat Smith in 1v1 battles and the batter is likely to score big runs for the Men in Yellow.
Glenn Maxwell: Maxwell oozes class in every literal sense. Out with an injury, he returned in the IND vs AUS 3rd ODI and bagged the Man Of the Match award with a four-fer. As a versatile all-rounder, Glenn Maxwell is one of the most important players in the Australian squad. Apart from his all-rounder capabilities, Maxwell is a renowned finisher and an able lower-order batter who can dictate the game as per the demands of the innings.
Pat Cummins: The Australian skipper will spearhead the pace attack and will be joined by the likes of Starc and Hazlewood. An able captain he will be able to guide his side under extreme pressure. Moreover, Cummins is quite hand with the bat and can swing a couple of hits to save his side if the batting order somehow collapses.
Australia in World Cups
The most successful side in the World boasts of having 5 titles under his belt. They won the coveted title in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015. In the last edition, i.e 2019 they reached the semi-finals where they lost the match to their arch-rivals England who later went on to lift the trophy.
Australia World Cup squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
Australia’s World Cup ScheduleODI World Cup: Team India’s SWOT Analysis, Fixtures – All you need to know
| Date | Team 1 | Team 2 | Venue |
| October 8 | India | Australia | MA Chidambaram Stadium |
| October 12 | Australia | South Africa | Ekana Stadium |
| October 16 | Australia | Sri Lanka | Ekana Stadium |
| October 20 | Australia | Pakistan | M Chinnaswamy Stadium |
| October 25 | Australia | Netherlands | Arun Jaitley Stadium |
| October 28 | Australia | New Zealand | HPCA Stadium |
| November 4 | England | Australia | Narendra Modi Stadium |
| November 7 | Australia | Afghanistan | Wankhede Stadium |
| November 11 | Australia | Bangladesh | MCA Stadium |
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