CWC 2019, SWOT analysis – Australia
The Australian selectors have named an extremely strong 15-man World Cup squad for the 2019 World Cup. Not long ago, the defending champions were written off before the start of the tournament by many experts due to their poor form in this format of the game. But a strong showing in the sub-continent against India where they managed to make a brilliant comeback from 2-0 down to win the series 3-2, which was followed by a 5-0 thrashing of Pakistan in the UAE has made people sit up and take notice of Australia’s strength and depth.
The return of Steve Smith and David Warner has further boosted Australia’s batting order which seemed like a weak point. The return to form of skipper Aaron Finch and some brilliant performances by Usman Khawaja has further solidified the Australian batting order, which all of a sudden, looks amongst the strongest on paper.
The bowling might of Australian was never questioned and they have a good blend of pace and spin, with a five-pronged pace battery and two quality spinners in Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa.
Australian squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
Squad analysis
Strengths – On paper, Australia perhaps have the strongest bowling unit. Their pace bowling unit, especially, is brimming full of quality. Pat Cummins has emerged as the best fast bowler in the world right now and Mitchell Starc will always trouble batsmen with his pace and bowling at the depth. Both of them are tried and tested quality performer with Starc being Australia’s star man in the previous edition of the tournament. They will be ably backed by Jason Behrendorff and Kane Richardson, who have emerged as good options in the Australian pace department, especially with their use of different variations. Nathan Coulter-Nile completes the pace quintet, being an experienced campaigner who can also contribute with the bat down the order.
The Australian selectors have also recognized that pitches in England these days offer some assistance to the spinners and have opted to go with two options in their squad. Even here, the Aussies have great variety in the form of Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa. Lyon with his traditional off-breaks has turned out to be one of the greatest spinners which the country has produced, at least in the longest format of the game. He has now been given a shot in the shorter formats and has shown glimpses of his quality there as well. Adam Zampa has been a great asset for the Aussies in the T20 format and there is a belief that he could work his magic with his leg-spin in the ODI format as well.
Weaknesses – Despite what appears to be a strong unit, there are some underlying issues within the Australian batting order. The batting order looked settled with Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch forming a brilliant opening pair. With the return of Warner and Smith, the settled unit could well end up being disrupted.
Warner will walk out to open the batting which will break the partnership which Finch and Khawaja had established. Depending on whether Steve Smith bats at No.3 or No.4 there could be even more uncertainty over Khawaja’s batting position. The return of both Smith and Warner is also likely to push Shaun Marsh, who has been one of Australia’s best ODI players in the last 18-months, out of the line-up. Getting the maximum out of Glenn Maxwell will also be the key and he is unlikely to get too many overs to bat in the current batting set-up.
Although the return of Smith and Warner strengthens them theoretically, it remains to be seen how the disgraced duo reintegrate themselves back into international cricket. On the small sample size of the IPL, Warner appears to be in a good groove, but the same cannot be said about Steve Smith.
Also, Australia have taken a big risk by not taking a back-up to Alex Carey who is the sole wicket-keeper in the squad. The inclusion of Carey itself has raised some question marks, with many making a case for the inclusion of Matthew Wade, who has been the most in-form player on the Australian domestic circuit. In an ideal, scenario, Australia could have taken a bowler less and included Wade in the squad, which would have not only given them a back-up keeper but would have further strengthened their batting order.
Opportunities
Australia certainly has the mettle, the quality and the experience to lift the 2019 edition of the World Cup. They know how to raise their game, when the big tournament comes rolling around, having lifted the trophy a record 5 times. Heading into the 2019 edition of the tournament, they have managed to rise from the ashes of a couple of torrid years and look a strong and well-balanced unit heading into the tournament.
Threats
They are not as strong as the English unit, who have an explosive batting line-up and the advantage of playing in their home conditions. The lack of a back-up keeper could also come back and haunt them in case of an injury to Alex Carey. The re-integration of Smith and Warner could also prove to be troublesome in the sense that Australia was starting to have a settled line-up before their ban was up.
