Aussies on edge ahead of Adelaide clash
Australia’s cricketers are on edge ahead of their World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan, opening bat Aaron Finch says.
The Australians on Thursday will fine-tune preparations for the knockout bout with a match-eve training session at Adelaide Oval.
Paceman Josh Hazlewood has been seeking to impress selectors, but fellow quick Pat Cummins seems set to retain his spot in the starting XI.
“There is a lot of excitement and a few nerves around and everyone is trying as hard as they can in the nets to improve,” Finch said.
“There has been no way that we have slackened off at all. Our training has maintained a real high intensity which, over a long tournament, can be hard to do at times.
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“And when you have got our quicks steaming in in the nets you know you have to be sharp and you know you have to be on your game.
“If you’re playing well against them then that gives you so much confidence going into the game.”
Meanwhile, Alastair Cook claims England’s early exit from the World Cup has proved the decision to sack him as captain was “probably wrong”.
Cook knew his position was in “jeopardy” because of his poor one-day international form, before he was replaced by Eoin Morgan at the 11th hour.
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But after witnessing from afar England’s embarrassing departure in the group stages of the global tournament in Australia and New Zealand, he senses coach Peter Moores and his management colleagues ended up with a “shell-shocked” team.
Cook’s task now as Test captain is to try to start an Ashes year with success in the West Indies – the squad for that tour was announced on Wednesday morning – and he believes he must first renew confidence.
He acknowledges his continued lack of ODI runs in Sri Lanka last November and December put the England and Wales Cricket Board in a difficult position, but still senses he might have helped do better than elimination before the knockout stages began, as happened under Morgan.
“The selectors made that decision, because they thought it was the best for English cricket,” Cook told the Daily Telegraph.
“Hindsight has probably proved them wrong, but now it’s very easy to say that.”
Either way, Cook regrets that the optimism and belief created by the Test series success at home to India may no longer be intact.
“It was in a good place,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say all of it [confidence] has been (shattered), but a hell of a lot of it has been.
“We have a repairing job to do … we built that momentum a little bit after the Ashes 14 or 15 months ago with a slightly younger side, including the likes of Gary Ballance and Joe Root.
“There was a good feel-good factor about the English game in the middle of August after the Test matches. Since then, it’s been tough going. We’ve got to rebuild again.”
– AAP/PA
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