ICC World Cup 2019 – Match 45: AUS vs SA – Australia Predicted Playing XI

Australia has had an excellent World Cup 2019. With 7 wins in 8 games, they’ve been leading the points table so far. However, the team is still three games away from lifting its sixth title. They’ll look to hold on to their forte as they play the final league game of World Cup 2019 against South Africa. In their last two games, Australia defeated both England and New Zealand by huge margins.

The team will be facing one of these two teams in the semi-final. If they win this game, they will take on the Kiwis. If they lose to South Africa and India happens to win against Sri Lanka, Australia will be up against England. The Aussies will hold on to their top spot and play New Zealand in the semis if both India and they lost the games in the doubleheader on Saturday.

Here is the Predicted Playing XI for Australia

Openers (David Warner, Aaron Finch (c))

Australia might not want to rest David Warner for this game. The former Australian vice-captain has already missed out on a year and will look take every opportunity that comes his way. Warner has been the leading run-scorer for Australia in this tournament as well. He was displaced from the top position on the leading run-scorers table and will look to reclaim the spot.

The left-hander missed out against New Zealand in the last game and could only score 16 runs. It is a similar case with Aaron Finch as well as he could only accrue 8 runs. Finch has nearly been as good as Warner, if not, better at times. These two complement each other extremely well and will eye to provide their team with another solid foundation early on.

Middle Order (Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Alex Carey (wk))

Usman Khawaja will continue at number three. He did a great job in the last match scoring 88 runs and has played the role of an anchor. Khawaja will fulfil a similar role in the remaining games as well. Steve Smith has had a slightly on and off tournament so far. The former skipper hasn’t been at his consistent best.

There have been occasions where he made us stand and applaud him in awe. On the other instances, he rather threw it away. Smith was slightly unlucky in the last game as Martin Guptill took an absolute blinder to dismiss him. Australia could promote Alex Carey up the order and see how that goes in this match. He has proved that he’s got an excellent temperament and should be great at number five.

All Rounders (Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis)

Australia has got an injury concern for the upcoming game. Glenn Maxwell was hit hard on his forearm in the nets session. While it is a no-brainer that he will make it into the cut if he is fit, Peter Handscomb might be roped in otherwise. Handscomb replaced Shaun Marsh in the squad who was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury.

Marcus Stoinis will have a bigger role with the ball in case Maxwell is not fit. In that scenario, it will be a good test for him ahead of the knockouts. However, the all-rounder has got to take onus with the bat and be more responsible. He can’t often throw his wicket away after getting off to good starts.

Bowlers (Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon)

Pat Cummins has usually been highly economical with the ball. However, with both Mitchell Starc and Jason Behrendorff in the eleven, he hasn’t got a chance to operate with the new ball. Yet, he has adjusted to the challenge well. Starc has been doing a fabulous job.

Jason Behrendorff complements him quite well. He is great with the new ball and extracts a good amount of swing. His ability to move the ball both ways poses several questions to the batsmen. Nathan Lyon has been quite good with the ball. He is economical and should be the prefered choice for Australia.