Powerplay wickets on the wish list for Australia

It's been a World Cup of mixed fortunes for Australia's bowlers in the Powerplay. 

All the way back in their first match in Chennai, Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood reduced hosts and tournament favourites India to 3-2 from two overs in a pulsating opening 12 deliveries.  

But since then, through matches against South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, no Powerplay wickets have been captured and three century opening stands have been conceded.  
It leaves only Bangladesh with a worse strike rate in the first 10 overs with Australia now 228 balls (or 38 overs) without a scalp in that period. 

Captain Pat Cummins lamented dropped chances in the field and missed lbw reviews for the dearth of wickets, but it's far from doom and gloom for Australia in the Powerplay.  

They have lowest Powerplay economy rate at the World Cup, conceding only 4.25 runs per over across their first four matches.

Hazlewood, Starc, Cummins and Maxwell have ensured that even while the breakthroughs haven't come regularly (or at all), the opposition team isn't having the play their own way.

And although they have conceded big opening partnerships, Australia won their past two matches. Despite the recent success though, new ball wickets are still high on the Aussie agenda.

"Powerplay wickets aren't overrated," Australia coach Andrew McDonald told reporters in Delhi on Monday.  

"They set up the middle overs. Any time that you can get two or three wickets in the Powerplay it puts your opposition on the back foot.  

"Ideally, we don't want to be relying on middle-over wickets.  

"We haven't got the wickets that we'd like in the Powerplay … but I don't think that's necessarily through the way that we've bowled. 

"The opposition have probably outplayed us a little bit there … but I think those wickets will come."

Hazlewood has been excellent with the new ball right from the start of Australia's campaign.  

His first over brought two wickets, that of Rohit Sharma lbw and Shreyas Iyer caught at cover, before operating at 4.07 runs per over through his next four matches.  

Only Jasprit Bumrah from India (2.90) and Aryan Dutt from the Netherlands (3.81) have a lower economy rate in the Powerplay than the Australian.  

Neither Hazlewood nor opening partner Starc have the wickets to show for their efforts but McDonald is pleased with their output to date.  

"He (Hazlewood) gives us great control from one end in the Powerplay," McDonald said.  

"It's hard to do what he does, he operated at under four runs an over at Chinnaswamy (Stadium) which is almost unheard of. 

"He allows 'Starcy' down the other end to be a little bit more attacking and aggressive and he holds up the other end. So as a combination, I think they're really performing well."

Australia have another potential new ball option in Cummins, who has opened the bowling in 31 of his 81 ODIs but is yet to do so in this tournament.  

But it's unlikely the skipper will shift himself up the bowling order, despite boasting a considerably better ODI bowling average as opener (25.71) than first-change or later (30.59).  

"That'll be up to Pat," McDonald said of any tinkering with the quicks.  

"That combination of Hazelwood and Starc, I think they've really dovetailed well in the Powerplay. 

"Will we shift that? Time will tell."

Cummins too was coy when asked if there was any temptation to have first crack with the ball. 

"Before the tournament you bounce around plenty of ideas," he told reporters on Thursday in Bengaluru.  

"But at the moment we look back at the last couple of games and haven't got the wickets, but there have probably been three chances in each 10 overs that we haven't got, or an lbw missed by millimetres or plays and misses.  

"So we've been really happy with the guys up front." 

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: Beat Sri Lanka by five wickets

October 20: Defeated Pakistan by 62 runs

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	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 India Men IND	9	9	0	0	0	2.57	0	18
2 South Africa Men SA	9	7	2	0	0	1.261	0	14
3 Australia Men AUS	9	7	2	0	0	0.841	0	14
4 New Zealand Men NZ	9	5	4	0	0	0.743	0	10
5 Pakistan Men PAK	9	4	5	0	0	-0.199	0	8
6 Afghanistan Men AFG	9	4	5	0	0	-0.336	0	8
7 England Men ENG	9	3	6	0	0	-0.572	0	6
8 Bangladesh Men BAN	9	2	7	0	0	-1.087	0	4
9 Sri Lanka Men SL	9	2	7	0	0	-1.419	0	4
10 Netherlands Men NED	9	2	7	0	0	-1.825	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points