Loading
Fans generally purchase tickets for World Cup matches months in advance but could have just a few days’ notice as it would not become apparent when Australia would play until the first round is over.
Organisers would also lose control of where to fixture the hosts, possibly resulting in the drawcard side playing away from the major venues.
The draw for this year’s event marks the sides who progress through the first phase as A1, A2, B1 and B2 depending on where they finish in their respective groups.
That Australia find themselves walking the tightrope highlights just how far the team has fallen after series defeats with second-string sides in New Zealand, the Caribbean and Bangladesh.
Ranked No.1 late last year, the Australians were considered one of the teams to beat for the event in its original October 2020, slot only for it to be postponed two years due to the pandemic.
Loading
There is, however, an air of confidence in the Australian camp now that the likes of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis are back in the fold after missing the winter tours.
“I mean, it’s a huge positive we’ve got our full-strength team here available to us for the World Cup,” Starc said.
“Obviously we didn’t have that through the West Indies and Bangladesh, we had some really inexperienced players, and some young guys playing some of their first games of cricket for Australia, coming to some really foreign conditions and thrown in the deep end really quickly, so not our best tour.
“But now we’ve got our full-strength team available … it’s up to us now. We’ve set out to win the World Cup, we don’t want anything less than that and obviously that will be shown through the next couple of weeks of cricket.”
Starc knows there is little margin for error for Australia, with three and maybe even four wins required from the five group games to finish in the top two and progress to the semis. Australia’s first game against South Africa on Saturday night could well set the tone of their campaign.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
Australia could miss main course of home World Cup
Source: Philippines Alive
