Recently, the senior Australian cricketers David Warner and Steven Smith have joined with the national team in the pre-World Cup training camp in Brisbane. Along with the other Australian team members, the left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc has also welcomed these two senior players.
Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steven Smith faced suspensions due to their involvement in ball-tampering incident during the Cape Town Test against the hosts South Africa in March 2018. While Cricket Australia (CA) banned Bancroft for nine months, Warner and Smith faced 12-months suspensions.
Recently, Warner and Smith completed their suspension period. After some good performances in recent T20 leagues, Warner and Smith both have earned the national team call-up for the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
After missing the international cricket for more than one year, Warner and Smith have recently joined with the national team in the pre-World Cup training camp. Mitchell Starc believes that everything will run smoothly as all of them are focusing only on the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
Starc recently said according to icc-cricket.com, “It’s onwards, upwards and focused on the World Cup. It’s all rosy.”
Starc was the Player of the Tournament in the previous edition of Cricket World Cup (2015). In that edition, the left-arm pacer was the joint leading wicket-taker along with the New Zealand left-arm pacer Trent Boult (each took 22 wickets).
We’ve all had our meetings and moved on – Mitchell Starc
Recently, ahead of the preparation camp, the Australian cricketers had a meeting. Starc revealed that they majorly focused on the team during that meeting.
He added, “We’ve all had our meetings and moved on. The meeting I was involved in with … 95% wasn’t about Dave and Steve and the group. It was more about where the team was going.”
Mitchell Starc is excited about Warner’s return
Warner and Smith recently performed well in the IPL 2019. After some initial struggle, Smith performed consistently in IPL 2019 where he scored 319 runs in ten innings (average 39.87) for Rajasthan Royals (RR), including three half-centuries. In the middle period of this tournament, Smith also led this side.
Meanwhile, Warner played powerful cricket in the IPL 2019. The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener is currently holding the Orange Cap after scoring 692 runs in 12 innings (average 69.20). In the IPL 2019, the left-handed batsman scored one century and eight half-centuries.
Observing their present form, Starc is excited about their international cricket return.
The left-arm pacer said, “He (Warner) has been on fire over there, along with Steve, so that’s great for him and great for the group. He’s a world-class player and we’re excited to have him back.”
England and Wales will host the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup from 30th May to 14th July. The five-time World Cup winners Australia will participate in this tournament as the defending champions. They will play their opening match of this tournament on 1st June against Afghanistan at Bristol.