Ricky Ponting picks Australia’s pivotal duo ahead of the 2023 World Cup

Ricky Ponting, former Aussie captain, has named two players who could play a pivotal role in Australia’s quest for their sixth ICC World Cup title. Ponting, who currently coaches Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), thinks that Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa will be formidable players for the team in the upcoming tournament.

Australia have won the tournament five times in the past and showed their preparedness for the upcoming edition of the tournament by winning against India in the recent ODI series.

Ponting praised Starc for his attributes and performance over the years, calling him one of the best bowlers in the world. He highlighted Starc’s height, left-arm bowling action and ability to swing the new ball back in as reasons for his success. Ponting also defended Starc against those who criticise him, citing his excellent numbers in white-ball cricket.

According to Ponting, Starc has been Australia’s key bowler in the limited-overs format for a long time.

“It’s the overall package of Mitchell Starc. He’s six-foot-five, bowls in the high 140-km per hour, he’s a left-armer and he swings the new ball back in as Suryakumar found out,” Ponting told sports presenter Sanjana Ganesan on the latest episode of The ICC Review.

“When he’s on song, he’s as good as anyone in the world and has been for a long time.

“For lots of strange reasons, there has always been people willing to sit back and take potshots at Mitchell Starc for some of his performances. But if you have a cold hard look at the facts, particularly in white-ball cricket, his numbers are absolutely outstanding.

“He’s shown in that series just how dangerous he can be with the new ball, regardless of the conditions,” added Ponting.

In addition to Starc, the ex-cricketer praised Zampa for being a revelation for the Australian team in the past four to five years. Ponting believes Zampa should be included in the squad even in Tests and has touted him as the backbone of Australia’s bowling attack. He thinks that Zampa’s leg spin has been very consistent, making it challenging for teams to get on top of him.

“He [Zampa] has probably been Australia’s key bowler in all white-ball cricket for a long time, along with Mitchell Starc,” Ponting said.

“Starc has been great but Adam Zampa for four or five years now has been a real revelation.

“He’s been the backbone of the Australian bowling attack which probably led to him being a little bit disappointed not to be picked on a Test tour to India.

“But he’s an outstanding performer. For a leg-spinner to become a very, very consistent performer, it’s very rare that teams get on top of him and get hold of him.

“He’s going to be one of Australia’s trump cards for sure,” concluded Ponting.

Bagging figures of 10-0-45-4, Zampa played a crucial role in Australia’s 21-run victory in the ODI series-decider held in Chennai. His dismissal of Hardik Pandya proved to be the turning point of the contest.

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April 04, 2023 at 01:33PM