England left vulnerable by key Aussie match-up

A statistical deep dive that revealed a key weakness of the world's most feared batting unit played a major role in Australia's dismantling of England, according to assistant coach Ricky Ponting, who declared Mitchell Starc the game's best white-ball bowler.

Australia have made no secret of their willingness to tweak their XI for every game during the World Cup in a bid to exploit their opponents' weaknesses and it paid off in spades on Tuesday as they knocked off the tournament favourites at Lord's.

With their data showing England's top-order might be vulnerable against left-arm pace, the reigning 50-over champions drafted in Jason Behrendorff for just his second game of the tournament to share the new ball with Starc, a move that could hardly have worked out better.

The pair of left-armers took nine wickets between them, flattening England's top order in a 64-run victory that sent Australia to the top of the tournament standings.

"We've been looking really deeply into specific match-ups with opposition teams and specific players," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"What we've done with opposition players and what we've done so far pretty much in every game has come off for us.

"We knew looking at the numbers of the English batsmen, especially in their top order, that they are a bit susceptible to left-arm fast bowling, hence Behrendorff coming into the side.

"We have a mathematical system … that stacks up the batsmen's numbers against our bowlers.

"It was quite obvious coming into this one that a lot of their batsmen's numbers were quite low against left-arm fast bowling.

"That's the reason we went the way we did and the two lefties got nine wickets between them. It's come off really well today."

Ponting was quick to add that best-laid plans are futile if they don't have the talent to pull them off.

In Starc, the former Test captain believes the Australians have the most potent limited-overs bowler on the planet after he dazzled with both new and old balls to remove dangermen Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes in claiming 4-43.

The speedster only featured in 34 of a possible 76 ODIs between Australia's 2015 World Cup win (in which he was named player of the tournament) and the ongoing 2019 tournament, but has proved to be a force again on the biggest stage.

In 15 World Cup games, he now has 41 wickets at 13.92.

Asked if Starc is the best white-ball bowler in the world, Ponting said: "If he's not, I'd like to know who is.

"Two wickets with the brand-new ball, swinging it back into the right-hander and then to swing it back in with the good ball to get Ben Stokes late when he's set on 89 and knock his off-stump out of the ground.

"We know what a valuable asset we've got there with Starcy and we're continually trying to find the best way to use him in this 50-over format.

"The way we used him today – two or three (overs) up front trying to take early wickets, then give him a couple through the middle to try to break partnerships and then use him against new batsmen – has worked well for us in the last couple of games.

"Finchy (captain Aaron Finch) has done a great job with the way he's handled him.”

Ponting pointed out that Starc has become such a threat that opposition players are batting differently against the rest of Australia's attack.

"It's a huge asset for us, but it's (also) something that's always in the back of the mind of the opposition," he said.

"They know Starc's going to come back at some stage, so quite often they'll look to go harder earlier against other blokes, which brings them into the game too. He's a huge asset for us."

All 15 players in Australia's squad have now been used after Nathan Lyon, who went wicketless at Lord's but controlled the run-rate in taking 0-43 off nine overs, made his Cup debut against England.

It's a factor Ponting believes could be important when the tournament gets down to the business end, flagging that they'll continue to chop and change according to conditions and opponents.

"I know Justin (Langer, head coach) has being saying all along that flexibility is a positive for us, it's not a negative at all," said Ponting.

"At this stage of the tournament we've got games into all our players which is a really positive thing going into the back half.

"We'll continue to play that way. If we feel like we can find some weaknesses in the opposition with certain match-ups from our playing 15, then we'll more than likely go with that for the remainder of the tournament."

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