FEATURES
Follow UsWhat’s the one thing you have to remember?
Never write off a team in yellow just before a major event. It could be a Football World Cup, it could be an ODI Cricket World Cup or an Indian Premier League.
Every time you feel they are done and dusted, they spring out a performance that will go down in history. Writing off Australia is possibly the worst thing you could do, now more than ever.
Coming into the South Africa series, Australia (if confused) only had a few questions about the squad they picked. One of them was David Warner.
In between the 2015 ODI World Cup success and the 2019 ODI World Cup, Australia’s success in the powerplay wasn’t the best in the world.
It was far from 'poor' but that, though, wasn't ever going to cut edge, considering the country's rich cricketing history. If Australia were to be a force to reckon with, they had to compete with England, who were building a white-ball dynasty with a powerplay scoring of 5.7 RPO. England’s quick starts weren’t an anomaly any more, it was viewed as the world standard.
On pitches in England that aided quick starts, Australia were so far away from the world that their failure didn’t surprise anyone. It was evident that Australia were perennially chasing the game, whether they were batting first or chasing a total, and teams were aware of how to exploit them going into the 2019 World Cup.
Australia’s lack of penetration with the bat was certainly hurting them, and barring four clashes across ten games, they were well and truly scoring at under 5 runs an over, something that didn’t have its place for a top team.
It was an Australian side that possessed two of the world’s deadliest openers at that time - Aaron Finch and David Warner. But despite that, the results weren’t even lukewarm, it was of a level that was middling.
They were going at 4.7 RPO, which meant that if the conditions were tough, their batting was almost certain not to take off, being only the fifth-best in the ODI World Cup that year.
Warner’s own ability in the first ten overs looked like a waning wand, with 67.3% dot deliveries in the first ten overs.
Australia’s soul-crushing defeat at the hands of arch-rivals England in the semi-final directly resulted from a lacklustre batting display in the powerplay. The loss against India in the group stage was a direct result of such a dire batting display when Australia were chasing a monumental target of 353.
If it was 27/3 against England, It was 48/0 against India. Australia identified one thing since that World Cup exit: how they go about their things in the first ten overs. Since the exit from the world event, Australia realised that going slow in the first ten overs (even if it is without a dismissal) is only making things worse for the team.
Like the 2015 ODI World Cup kick-started an ODI revolution in England, the semi-final exit against England kind of sparked the need for Australia to be more and more aggressive in the powerplay. Why kind of?
Because the revolution wasn’t totally sparked until 2022.
***
2022 remains a catalyst for the Australian dominance we see today.
Finch’s powers were waning. His attacking prowess was taking the backseat, and his multiple vulnerabilities started painting the headlines red.
Since the start of 2022, Finch’s scores in the ODI format read: 23, 0, 0, 44, 14, 62, 0, 0, 15, 1, 5, 5, 0, 5. Amongst openers with a minimum of five ODI innings, no batter in the top ten teams had a lower average than Finch (12.43).
Finch saw his vulnerability and decided enough was enough. Thus, it fixed one of Australia’s long-standing problems: lack of aggression in the first ten overs. Travis Head was entrusted with the task, and Australia have barely looked back ever since.
Head-Warner as an opening pair was deemed a bit of a ‘left-field’ choice, but the pair worked their way out to show the world that left is perhaps the new right. As teams have begun entrusting more left-handedness in their top order, Australia are flaunting it.
It has been only five innings since Head started opening with Warner, and the results are there to see. Across the five innings they have opened together, the pair average 100.6 with the bat and strike at 116.6, sharing three century-run partnerships.
But before today’s 109-run stand against South Africa in Bloemfontein, there was major doubt as to whether this pair would be the one that would start in Australia’s first World Cup game against India on October 8 in Chennai.
That was because of how Mitchell Marsh had put his hands up in Warner’s absence to put on a show against India in the three-match ODI series. It was as if to show what Australia really missed - and that was aggression and aggression. Marsh did that but in such a way that it almost penciled him into being the favourite to open in the World Cup.
"Things may change, but Davey is literally one of the GOATs of one-day cricket and white-ball cricket in general," said Mitchell Marsh ahead of the ODI series, but Warner still had to prove his worth, given how Head was performing at the other end, with 616 runs as an opener, averaging 61.60 and a SR of 124.94.
Coming into this clash, after a duck, all that Australia sought was whether Warner, the bull, would turn up like he was against the colour red or a bull that was just uninterested in running the race.
Guess what? It was the bull that everyone anticipated and loved. Warner was always viewed as someone who could be replaced, be it Head in the first place or Marsh in the last place. But as has been the case throughout his career, the southpaw packed a huge punch under pressure.
The second ODI against South Africa might well be known for how Marnus Labuschagne put one epic performance and stitched it with another. It might be known for how Adam Zampa weaved his magic wand around the bamboozled Proteas batting unit.
Or it might even be known that Nathan Ellis had strengthened his credentials for the upcoming ODI World Cup if there stands an opportunity. But amidst all of this, there was Warner, who packed the ultimate punch with an ultimate century, which was brought up in no time.
Not only was Warner comfortable against the new ball, he grew in confidence when it came to the spin unit of South Africa, who struggled to control their line and length against the marauding beast. Astonishingly enough, Warner had a control percentage of 100 against all the South African bowlers, with the exception of Marco Jansen and Andile Phehlukwayo.
His ability to constantly attack the bowlers, which resulted in a razzmatazz century - 106 off 93 balls - was only a bigger statement than Australia’s victory. It has solved one of Australia’s biggest problems but also has made them put forward their application to be one of the best batting units at the top.
***
In 2023, there is no place for mediocrity, and Australia are proving that for some time now.
Just this year, Australia have crushed opponents with their batting powerplay display. Across five innings, the Kangaroos average 80.6 in the first ten overs and have an incredible run-rate of 8.1, the best numbers in world cricket, with a whopping difference of +2.1 between them and India, who stand at 6 RPO.
In the powerplay this year, Australia have scored 59/1, 112/0, 61/0, 69/4 and 102/0. Maybe the surfaces have aided for some good batting? Ideally, in that circumstance, the opposition team, too, should have put on some fight. The numbers, though, suggest otherwise.
Barring South Africa in the second ODI, only one team - India - scored 50 runs against Australia in the powerplay, and even their score read 51/5. It goes on to say how Australia’s changing approach is real and how, by solving one of their long-standing problems, Australia enter into an ODI World Cup as a real contender.
Australia had doubts over Warner, the opener? Not anymore.
