Smith not forgotten in Trent Bridge chaos

Vice-captain Alex Carey has hailed the performance of Steve Smith during Australia’s nail-biting 15-run victory over the West Indies at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Nathan Coulter-Nile may have won the majority of plaudits for his brilliant 92 and player-of-the-match efforts, as well as Mitchell Starc with the ball, but Carey says it was Smith who held the Aussie innings together.

It took a superb piece of fielding on the boundary from Sheldon Cottrell to finally dismiss Smith in the 45th over of the tight contest, but not before the New South Welshman had amassed a patient 73 and helped Australia to a competitive total of 288.

The former skipper, who has now passed 50 in five of his most recent six innings, had survived an early top-order collapse that left the Australians reeling at 5-79 with more than 30 overs remaining. The right-hander’s valuable knock included a partnership of 68 with Carey, before he teamed up with Coulter-Nile to put on 102 for the seventh wicket at better than a run a ball.

Smith hit seven fours during his 103-ball stay and it was his ability to adjust to the conditions at Trent Bridge and change his game accordingly that stood out the most for Carey.

"He batted beautifully. His tempo with lots of wickets falling was outstanding, he showed his class," Carey said.

"He didn't say a lot. I suppose when I was two off 23 balls he gave me no indication I was doing something wrong, backing up what I was trying to do out there.

"There was no pressure from him, so we were fine just going together. I think we know at Trent Bridge if we give ourselves a bit of time, we can score freely.

"I didn't think it was a bad thing at the time. I guess if you get out, we're 6-80 (so) I gave myself a bit of time to assess the conditions and give the tail a chance."

Carey and Australia will now turn their attention to a crucial match-up against India at The Oval in London on Sunday as they look to extend their ODI winning streak to 11 matches.

The two rivals have seen plenty of each other in recent times, with India claiming a 2-1 victory over Australia earlier this year in an entertaining series that saw veteran MS Dhoni score half-centuries in all three matches.

Then in March, the two teams played off in India as Aaron Finch's side registered a 3-2 triumph that was highlighted by 14 wickets from Pat Cummins and a pair of centuries each to Usman Khawaja and Virat Kohli.

Carey is predicting a tight contest on Sunday and believes the wicket of Dhoni will be valuable given his ability to close out an innings.

"Playing against him in India and Australia, he's very calm," said Carey. "He always gives himself a chance to finish off the game.

"He gives himself time out in the middle. They're pretty calm heads, they give themselves a chance to finish off an innings.

"It's a World Cup, so I didn't know too much what to expect. Rolling to the first game in the bus and seeing all the crowd gave me some goosebumps. I thought it was a pretty cool feeling."

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: India v Australia, The Oval

June 12: Australia v Pakistan, Taunton

June 15: Sri Lanka v Australia, The Oval

June 20: Australia v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge

June 25: England v Australia, Lord's

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