Maxwell the key as Australia back pace stars

Glenn Maxwell's bowling could hold the key to Australia continuing their surprise tactic from their World Cup opener, in which they fielded all three members of their star fast-bowling trio in the same XI for the first time in a T20I.

Ashton Agar was a surprise omission for the Aussies' tense final-over victory over South Africa on Saturday as they opted for just the solitary specialist spinner in Adam Zampa alongside gun quicks Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins.

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said his side had expected as much, but this was the first time all three had played in the same team in the shortest format at international level.

Agar has comfortably been Australia's most economical T20 bowler since the format's last World Cup in 2016 but the brave move to omit him was vindicated as South Africa were held to just 9-118.

Recent Indian Premier League title-winner Hazlewood underlined his vast improvement as a T20 bowler in earning player-of-the-match honours, Cummins defied his patchy preparation for the tournament to concede just 17 from his four overs while Starc snared arguably the biggest wicket of the match when he dismissed Aiden Markram for a game-high 40.

Justin Langer and fellow selector George Bailey would likely have been forced to omit one of them if not for the off-spin of Maxwell, which claimed 1-24 from four overs including the prized wicket of Bavuma.

Crucially, Finch was able to use him for two overs in the Powerplay when fielding restrictions heighten the importance of tight bowling.

"Maxi is a brilliant T20 bowler," said Marcus Stoinis, whose unbeaten 24 off 16 got the Aussies over the line with two balls to spare.

"He's very smart, he has obviously played so much and one of the benefits of batting like he does is he understands the game and he understands what the batter is trying to do.

"He's definitely someone we should be using for this World Cup and in general in white-ball cricket.

"He did match up well to a few of their left handers and the wicket suited it, so there's no reason why he won’t be bowling (more)."

Australia had identified Maxwell, who is fresh off a dominant IPL campaign with the bat, as likely to be effective against key batters Quinton de Kock and David Miller.

Both are left-handers, meaning Agar's left-arm orthodox deliveries spin in towards them while Maxwell's off-breaks turn away. The latter is considered a major advantage for T20 teams constantly analysing how to best engineer favourable 'match-ups'.

"He did a really good job," captain Aaron Finch said of Maxwell's bowling.

"We felt there were some really good match-ups for him in the Powerplay, which gave us some really good options to hold (allrounders Mitch) Marsh or (Marcus) Stoinis back.

"Maxi bowled beautifully (and) our whole bowling attack was brilliant."

As it turned out, neither Stoinis nor Marsh were required with the ball as Maxwell bowled out his full quota of four overs.

Finch admitted Agar was unfortunate to have missed out and Stoinis suggested it is unlikely he will be on the outer for the whole tournament.

The 28-year-old left-armer has taken 41 wickets at 21.17 over the past five years in T20Is – only Zampa and Andrew Tye have more wickets among Australians over that period – while his economy rate of 6.57 is comfortably the lowest.

"I don't think there's any easy choices so it's really unfortunate. But I also everyone is going to get used for this tournament," said Stoinis.

"With the conditions, we've got to adapt as we go.

"(Agar) has got such a good record, he's been so good for us – I wouldn't be counting anything out … there's an argument for everyone to be in the team."

2021 Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

Australia's matches

Oct 23:Australia beat South Africa by five wickets

Oct 28v Sri Lanka in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 29 AEDT)

Oct 30v England in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 31 AEDT)

Nov 4v Bangladesh in Dubai (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

Nov 6v West Indies in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

All matches live and exclusive on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2021 ICC T20 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

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Super 12 stage

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia