Two Australians on the the verge of breaking historic World Cup records
Australia have been in a brilliant run of form at the World Cup, managing to win games despite not being at the peak of their powers. They beat favourites England at Lord’s by 64 runs to make sure of their place in the semis. Captain Aaron Finch and pacer Jason Behrendorff were the star performers in the match, with a century and a 5-wicket haul respectively. David Warner and Mitchell Starc were also key contributors in the Australian cause and their performances edged them a step closer to creating history. Here are the two historic records which they could break during the course of the tournament:
Warner chasing Sachin’s record
Scoring the most number of runs in a single edition of the World Cup belongs to Sachin Tendulkar. The legendary Indian batsman scored 673 runs during the 2003 edition of the tournament in South Africa. This record has stood still for the last three editions, hardly looking in danger of being broken. But David Warner has been in scintillating form and has one eye on achieving this feat. After playing a knock of 53 runs against England, Warner now has 500 runs in the current edition.
Warner has so far played 7 matches in the World Cup, scoring at an average of 83.33 with the highest score of 166. He has hit 44 fours and 6 sixes so far and could play four more innings (if Australia make it to the finals). He needs 174 runs to break the record. With the current form which he is in, no one would back against Warner accomplishing this feat.
Starc chasing history
The quickest to pick 150 wickets in the history of ODI cricket, Mitchell Starc has again been in sensational form during the World Cup. He picked up 4 wickets against England, taking his tally to 19 wickets in the tournament.
If Starc picks up 7 more wickets, he will overtake legendary Australian pacer Glenn McGrath’s record of 26 wickets in a single edition of the tournament. McGrath achieved this feat during the 2007 edition.
Also, if Starc continues at the current rate, he may well end up becoming the top wicket-taker in two consecutive editions of the World Cup. During the 2015 edition, he was the joint highest wicket-taker alongside Trent Boult with 22 scalps.
