Australia finally face a team other than India or South Africa in ODIs, desperate to register their first World Cup win
Aussies won't 'look back far' to rediscover their best
It's been almost a year since Australia played anyone other than South Africa or India in men's one-day internationals, and after admitting they were the teams they'd "had the most trouble against", Pat Cummins can rest easy knowing they won't face them again unless they make it through to the semi-finals.
Aside from the two World Cup warm-up matches against the Netherlands and Pakistan where teams could play their full squad of 15 , Australia have played their last 13 official ODIs exclusively against South Africa (six matches) and India (seven).
Both sides have had the Aussies' number too, with the five-time World Cup champions winning just one of their last eight and losing five by 99 runs or more, with their ODI world ranking falling from first to fourth.
Australia have played India 13 times (winning six) and South Africa nine times (winning just two) since the previous 50-over showpiece in 2019.
Their last alternative opponent was England, who had just won the T20 World Cup in November last year, and it's the memories of that 3-0 thumping that Cummins hopes will help his side rediscover the form that had them as the No.1-ranked 50-over side 50 days ago when they face Sri Lanka in Lucknow on Monday (7.30pm AEDT).
"We've got to start winning and start winning quick," Australia's captain told reporters on match eve at Lucknow's Ekana Stadium.
"Every game now becomes almost like a final, you've got to win just about all of them.
"The opportunity now is we've got some teams we haven't played for a while, that we've had a lot of success against, and (we can) be really confident when we go out there.
"When we're at our best, we're putting big runs on the on the board, we're putting the pressure back onto the opposition and our bowlers are taking wickets through the middle.
"We haven't been able to pull any of that together so far (this World Cup).
"We know what makes us a really good team. It wasn't that long ago we we're number one in the world, so we don't have to look back too far to work out when we're playing our best."
The 30-year-old admits the squad was "a little bit flat" after their 134-run defeat to the Proteas last Thursday – a record loss for Australia in ODI World Cup history – but after a day off to regroup, they were ready to "roll up the sleeves … and make amends".
While he will hold off until the toss at 1.30pm on Monday (7pm AEDT) to name an XI that will face Sri Lanka, Cummins said there "won't be too many changes" after Australia dropped Alex Carey, who had played 42 of 44 ODIs between World Cups, for Josh Inglis in their previous match, and recalled Marcus Stoinis at the expense of Cameron Green.
Mitch Marsh, who is part of Australia's ODI leadership group alongside Cummins, Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and Carey, also ruled out radical changes when he spoke to reporters the day prior as they attempt to get off the mark in their World Cup campaign.
A third loss wouldn't spell the end of their Cup title hopes with 2019 finalists England and New Zealand both qualifying for the knockout stage with three losses at the previous tournament, but it would mean they need to win all of their remaining six fixtures with games to come against world champions England, as well as New Zealand and Pakistan.
"Everyone's desperate to turn it around," Cummins said. "Looking back at 2019, India and South Africa were the two teams that we lost round games to there."
The right-armer said one positive from the loss to South Africa was how he, Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood closed out the innings to restrict the Proteas to 5-311 when a score of 350-plus looked inevitable.
Conversely, that showed their opponent's pace attack how to bowl on a new wicket square that had been ripped up and replaced since the end of this year's Indian Premier League.
"That's as well as 'Starcy', Josh and myself have bowled to close out an innings," Cummins said.
"To keep them to just over 300 was fantastic and that becomes a bit of a blueprint and the standard we'd like to get to each game."
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points