Aussies eye a change in tempo for World Cup after series loss

Australia coach Andrew McDonald has conceded his team might need to temper their top-order aggression as they head to India for next month's ICC World Cup on the back of three unsuccessful run chases that landed them hefty defeats against South Africa.

Having taken a two-nil lead in the five-match ODI campaign against the Proteas, Australia lost by margins of 111, 164 and 122 runs respectively after opting to bat second in all three matches.

In each of those games, the batting succumbed inside 35 overs while pursuing totals of 300-plus with the first five wickets falling before the innings' halfway mark on each occasion.

Furthermore, Australia comfortably outscored their opponents during the initial 10-over PowerPlay of the last three matches – at a rate of almost eight runs an over, compared to South Africa's 4.7 – before the batting imploded as they continued at breakneck speed.

Australia can point to the absence of skipper Pat Cummins and fellow fast bowler Mitchell Starc along with star batter Steve Smith (who all missed the South Africa tour to recover from injuries), plus the loss of opener Travis Head (fractured hand in the penultimate fixture) as mitigation for the series loss.

However, McDonald agreed an ultra-aggressive approach by his top-order had proved costly and the need for a more measured approach to batting beyond the first PowerPlay was one of the issues to be reviewed before their World Cup campaign begins against India at Chennai on October 8.

The approach paid dividends in the three T20I matches that preceded the ODI series in South Africa, with the outfit led by interim skipper Mitchell Marsh recording a hat-trick of thumping victories in the shorter format.

But it could not be sustained in the 50-over arena.

"You've always got to strike that balance over the 50 overs," McDonald said after Australia were bowled out for 193 in the 35th over chasing 316 at Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.

"We've got to temper that, we've got to assess the conditions through those middle overs.

"We can't afford to expose our lower-order hitters at six or seven, where we do have some good power down there, too early.

"That happened a little bit too often in this (ODI) series and that's something that we need to tighten up on.

"We've got some personnel to come back that can assist in that space, but you can't win too many games of cricket if you're getting exposed four or five down before the halfway mark of the innings.

"So that's a key area for improvement."

The loss of Head for at least the first phase of the six-week Cup campaign means an enforced change to Australia's top-order, with the return of Smith also likely to bring an altered approach to batting on sub continental pitches.

But it was the returns of middle-order power hitters Marcus Stoinis (45 runs at 15, highest score 18), Tim David (45 at 11.25, HS 35) and Cameron Green (18 in his only innings) that proved pivotal, with keeper Alex Carey (122 at 24.4, HS 99) the only batter in that group to post a score above 50.

By contrast, the Proteas middle-order trio of Heinrich Klaasen (243 at 48.6, HS 174), David Miller (202 at 50.5, HS 82no) and allrounder Marco Jansen (134 at 33.5, HS 47 as well as being equal-top wicket-taker) proved the difference as they turned a 0-2 deficit into a series win.

"The positive is we are putting attacks under pressure at the top of the order, and that no doubt can disrupt the opponent," McDonald said, flagging a potential change of tempo in India.

"Then that gives us an opportunity to potentially pull it back through the middle overs and to respond at the back end as well.

"Clearly we've played some debutantes on this tour, and we've been stretched a little bit with injuries.

"But I think the way we attacked the PowerPlay with that top-order batting with Travis, Davey (Warner) and Mitch (Marsh) in that top three - we had to readjust that on the back of (Head's) injury, but I thought that was a real positive.

"There's plenty of room for improvement, and there's no doubt in the last three games we were a little bit sloppy in all three phases and a little bit of (poor) execution and decision-making, and we've got to sharpen those things up coming into a World Cup."

Australia fine tune their World Cup preparations with a three-game ODI series against host nation India from September 22-27, then pre-tournament warm-up matches against Netherlands (Sep 30) and Pakistan (October 3).

The 15-man squad they take into the World Cup must be finalised by September 28, with spin-bowling allrounders Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar the other members of Australia's preliminary squad who were not involved in the South Africa series.

The other significant change will be the return of Cummins from a wrist injury to take over the captaincy, although McDonald was delighted with Marsh's role as stand-in skipper marshalling a constantly changing on-field cohort.

However, while Marsh's inaugural outing as men's team captain ensures Australia have another ready-made leadership candidate to consider as required, no formal decision has been made as to whether he will assume the vacant T20I skipper's position on a permanent basis.

"Mitch did an incredible job over here, his first time captaining the country in both formats," McDonald said.

"Three-nil in the T20s and off to a good start in the one day series with two-nil up, so I was impressed by the way Mitch led.

"We had a lot of moving parts with multiple changes each game, some injuries, and making sure that we're prepped as well as we can be for the World Cup.

"The way he carried himself and was able to manage the troops out there was very impressive.

"In terms of decisions moving forward, we'll assess them but it was clearly just for this series in South Africa.

"But he has given us an option, there's no doubt about that."

2023 Qantas Tour of India

September 22: First ODI, Mohali (D/N), 6pm AEST

September 24: Second ODI, Indore (D/N), 6pm AEST

September 27: Third ODI, Rajkot (D/N), 6pm AEST

Australia ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa