The Australia World Cup squad had a familiar face bowling to them in the nets at Lord's ahead of Saturday's clash against New Zealand
Winter is coming: Aussies call in Boult clone
Australia’s bid to neutralise star quick Trent Boult was boosted on Thursday when a swing king wreaking havoc in English league cricket was invited to train with them ahead of their World Cup clash with New Zealand.
Nick Winter, the left-arm paceman considered a smokey for an Ashes berth by Jason Gillespie, bowled extensively to the Aussies in the Lord's nets as they prepared for a rematch of the 2015 World Cup final on Saturday at Lord’s.
"There were a couple of jokes about me coming into be Trent Boult," Winter, who’s currently playing for Brentwood Cricket Club in Essex, told cricket.com.au. "But I think he's got me well-and-truly covered.
"I was watching a little bit of him (in the World Cup) and he wasn't swinging the ball as much as I thought he would, so hopefully he doesn't catch our boys out.
"They played me pretty well so I reckon they're in pretty good hands."
While Boult only has nine wickets at 29 for the tournament, he was the joint leading wicket-taker (along with fellow left-armer Mitchell Starc) at the last World Cup and coach Justin Langer identified him as one of the Black Caps' main threats.
"Trent Boult, (he is a) left-armer which we talked about, incredibly skilful … They've got some good balance in their bowling attack but we'll be ready for that," said Langer.
At one stage, Winter induced a play-and-miss from Steve Smith – a feat few bowlers have managed during the tournament – but the South Australian conceded the former skipper had his measure.
"Steve Smith is pretty hard to bowl to, it's the first time I've bowled to him," he said. "The first ball I bowled what I thought was a pretty good ball and it got smacked for four. They had a good joke saying, ‘don't bowl on his stumps.’"
Unlike their summoning of Ashton Agar to specifically prepare for the left-arm spin of Shakib al-Hasan ahead of their game against Bangladesh, the timing of Winter's invitation to training ahead of their duel with Boult was coincidental, though Alex Carey said it was beneficial.
"It's nice just to get a feel for the left-arm and Nick's bowling really well, so it was nice to have him down," Carey told cricket.com.au.
Winter, who burst onto the domestic scene two summers ago with 34 wickets in his five Sheffield Shield games, has caused even greater havoc in the Essex Premier League this year.
In 12 games as the overseas pro at Brentwood, the paceman has snared an astonishing 62 scalps at 6.21 across all competitions, including three eight-wicket hauls and two seven-fors.
In Essex Premier League matches alone, he has 44 wickets at 4.48 – nearly double the amount of victims as the next most prolific bowler in the competition.
It's not just amateur club cricketers who have had a hard time against Winter armed with a swinging ball.
He exploded onto the domestic scene two summers ago when he collected three five-wicket hauls in his two first-class games.
With 48 Shield wickets at 22 with the Dukes ball alone, he's been one of the most effective bowlers with it since it was introduced in 2016 in a bid to prepare domestic players for Test cricket in England ahead of the upcoming Ashes campaign.
"It's good to get over here and bowl with a swinging Dukes ball. It's a bit of a running joke with the South Australian boys that I just chase that around," Winter said.
"At the same time I've been keeping myself as fit as I can because the last two years in Shield cricket have been quite good for me and I want to keep building on that when I get back home to Australia."
Winter hopes to return to the Australian setup as a net bowler during the Ashes, while he's also set to train with county side Essex, where Test veteran Peter Siddle is the overseas player in four-day cricket and where Adam Zampa will return for a T20 stint later in the year.
An Ashes berth looks unlikely having missed selection for the Australia A squad that's currently touring England, but Winter believes being around the team while he's in the UK can only be of benefit.
And he hopes it could help jag him a highly-coveted ticket to the World Cup final – should the Aussies make it that far.
"The next level for me is Australia A hopefully," Winter said when asked of his ambitions beyond club and state cricket.
"Over the last two years playing 14 Shield games out of a possible 15 has been quite important for me going to that next level.
"If I'm not part of any of those (Australia and Australia A squads) which at the moment I'm not, I'm just going to try to be around as much as possible.
"Hopefully the boys make the World Cup final so and I can come back and have a bowl to them… Hopefully that earns me a cheeky ticket to the final."
2019 World Cup
Australia's 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
June 1: Australia beat Afghanistan by seven wickets
June 6: Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs
June 9: Australia lost to India by 36 runs
June 12: Australia beat Pakistan by 41 runs
June 15: Australia beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs
June 20: Australia beat Bangladesh by 48 runs
June 25: Australia beat England by 64 runs
June 29: New Zealand v Australia, Lord's (D/N)
July 6: Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford (D/N)
July 9: Semi-Final 1, Old Trafford
July 11: Semi-Final 2, Edgbaston
July 14: Final, Lord's
Sync Australia's World Cup schedule to your calendar HERE
For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE