Cricket World Cup: Australia player guide

Australia's 15-man World Cup squad

Aaron Finch

Captain, right-handed batsman & left-arm spinner
Hard-hitting opener Aaron Finch looked like a walking wicket for much of the Australian summer before coming back to form against Pakistan in the UAE in March, scoring 116, 153 not out, 90, 39 and 53 in the five-match series.

Finch has a solid overseas ODI average of 39 and spells with Surrey and Yorkshire have given him good experience of English conditions.

He is a tough man to bowl to when on top of his game as England discovered in 2013 when he smashed 156 off 63 balls against them in a Twenty20 international at the Rose Bowl.

Jason Behrendorff

Right-handed batsman, left-arm fast-medium bowler
Australia's selectors like what they have seen of Behrendorff, who dismissed India stars Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni on his debut in January and claimed three wickets in the final match of the Pakistan series.

The left-armer poses a threat with the new ball, especially when it is swinging, and his consistent success with Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash earned him an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians.

Alex Carey

Left-handed batsman, wicketkeeper
The South Australia wicketkeeper has seen off the challenges of Peter Handscomb, Tim Paine and Matthew Wade to earn a place in the squad as Aaron Finch's vice-captain.

Carey made his debut against England in January 2018 and cemented his place in the side as an ever-present in this year's series wins over India and Pakistan.

His glovework was secure throughout those tours and he has shown good temperament and technique as a lower-order batsman, reaching 20 in 12 of his first 16 ODIs.

Nathan Coulter-Nile

Right-handed batsman, right-arm fast bowler
The Western Australia all-rounder has been around for a while – his first ODI victim was England's Michael Carberry in 2013 – but he has found it hard to nail down a place in the 50-over side.

More of a fixture in the Twenty20 squad, Coulter-Nile is a fine all-round cricketer who bowls with a bit of zip, hits the ball a long way and is an excellent fielder.

A veteran of four different IPL franchises, he took the new ball in three ODIs against Pakistan in March although only one of his seven wickets in that series came in the Powerplay overs.

Pat Cummins

Right-handed batsman, right-arm fast bowler
Man of the match on his Test debut against South Africa in 2011 at the age of 18, Cummins suffered years of injury problems before a triumphant return to the Australian side.

His pace, movement off the seam and judicious use of the slower ball make him a real wicket-taking threat in ODIs and he claimed 4-29, 3-37, 5-70, 2-38 and 3-23 in successive games against India and Pakistan in March.

An average of 11 doesn't do justice to Cummins's ability with the bat – he scored 63 in the Melbourne Test against India in December 2018 – and, fitness permitting, he should have a glittering international career ahead of him.

Pat Cummins is among the favourites to finish leading wicket-taker at this summer's World CupCredit: Bradley Kanaris

Usman Khawaja

Left-handed batsman
David Warner's suspension offered his fellow left-hander an opportunity at the top of the order and Khawaja grabbed his chance, rattling off scores of 50, 38, 104, 91, 100, 24, 88, nought, 62 and 98 against India and Pakistan.

He has certainly developed since a disappointing 2013 Ashes tour of England and county spells with Derbyshire and Lancashire have given him more experience of conditions in the northern hemisphere.

Despite his excellent 2019 form, Khawaja can't take his place in the top order for granted. His strokeplay is always eye-catching but he could be more ruthless, having a top score of only 104 despite reaching 50 in 12 of his 30 ODI innings.

Nathan Lyon

Right-handed batsman, off-spin bowler
The greatest off-spinner in Australian Test history has had to be patient when it comes to one-day opportunities, earning only 25 caps since his debut in 2012.

Lyon was recalled against England in June 2018 for his first ODI for nearly two years and his returns against India and Pakistan were steady but unspectacular: eight wicket in ten games with an economy rate of 4.97.

He still has questions to answer as a white-ball bowler but Australia's selectors clearly believe the experienced and ultra-competitive spinner has plenty to offer.

Shaun Marsh

Left-handed batsman
Almost 11 years into his international career, Marsh still has to win over the doubters every time he bats but the left-hander has played some superb ODI innings recently.

The older brother of all-rounder Mitchell, Shaun has batted in every position in the top seven for Australia's one-day side, scoring centuries as an opener, number three, number four and number six.

Marsh faces a struggle to get into the 11 but his course form is good thanks to a magnificent 131 in Cardiff and 101 off 92 balls in Durham during the 2018 series against England.

Glenn Maxwell

Right-handed batsman, off-spin bowler
The course of Maxwell's international career hasn't always run smoothly but Australia cannot afford to be without such a talented white-ball cricketer.

The Big Show ended the Pakistan series with brilliant knocks of 71, 98 and 70 (off 33 balls) and underlined his commitment to the World Cup cause by choosing to play for Lancashire in the One-Day Cup rather than go to the IPL.

As a batsman Maxwell is part power-hitter, part trick-shot artist and his tidy off-spin and coltish fielding make him a key player for the Aussies.

Glenn Maxwell is destructive at the crease for AustraliaCredit: Alex Davidson

Kane Richardson

Right-handed batsman, right-arm fast-medium bowler
Called into the squad as a replacement for injured namesake Jhye Richardson, the fast bowler has had mixed fortunes at international level.

On his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in 2013 he was ordered out of the attack for repeatedly running on the pitch but three years later he took 5-68 against India in Canberra.

Richardson is a skilled T20 bowler and his changes of pace and use of wide yorkers can earn him wickets late in the innings, as he showed with six scalps in three one-dayers on the 2018 tour of England.

Steve Smith

Right-handed batsman
Smith lost the Test and one-day captaincy and was banned for a year for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa and his batting looked understandably rusty for IPL side Rajasthan.

There is no doubting his one-day pedigree, however, after signing off the 2015 World Cup with scores of 105 in the semi-final against India and 56 not out against New Zealand in the final.

Smith has always been compared with contemporaries Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Kane Williamson but his one-day record is less impressive than that trio and only two of his eight ODI centuries have been scored outside Australia.

Mitchell Starc

Left-handed batsman, left-arm fast bowler
The left-armer was named man of the tournament after Australia's 2015 World Cup victory in which he finished as joint-leading wicket-taker and set the tone for the final win over New Zealand by bowling Brendon McCullum for a duck.

Injuries and the demands of Test cricket have drawn Starc's sting a little in ODIs recently and the last of his five five-wicket hauls came against the Black Caps in Auckland in February 2015.

He took only 11 wickets in seven ODIs in 2018 but when fully fit his fast inswinging yorkers remain the stuff of nightmares for opposition batsmen.

Marcus Stoinis

Right-handed batsman, right-arm medium-fast bowler
Stoinis played one of the great one-day innings in a losing cause in only his second ODI, finishing unbeaten on 146 in a six-run defeat to New Zealand when no other Australian batsman reached 40.

He had earlier taken 3-49 in the Kiwis' innings and the Aussies will be hoping for more all-round heroics from their current ODI cricketer of the year.

Stoinis is yet to nail down his place in the 11, batting in every position from number three to eight during his brief one-day career, and the medium-pacer's three wickets in six ODIs in England have cost 80 runs apiece.

David Warner

Left-handed batsman
Australia had no hesitation in naming Warner in the World Cup squad despite a year-long ban for his part in the ball-tampering scandal and he returned to action with a spectacular IPL campaign for Hyderabad.

In 12 innings for the Sunrisers, the left-hander scored eight fifties and a century and he racked up some equally impressive one-day stats before his ban, making ten centuries and five fifties in just 36 ODIs in 2016 and 2017.

However, there will be intense scrutiny as Warner returns to the international stage and he has a modest ODI record in England with a top score of 59 from ten innings.

Adam Zampa

Right-handed batsman, leg-spin bowler
Plenty of young Australian leg-spinners have been dragged down by inevitable comparisons to Shane Warne but Zampa has fared better than most, first in the T20 Big Bash and now in the national team.

This year he claimed 11 wickets in five ODIs in India before a career-best 4-43 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi while in 2018 he had a successful spell with Essex in the 2018 T20 Blast.

With Glenn Maxwell and Nathan Lyon offering spin options, it remains to be seen whether Zampa plays a major role in English conditions but he has rarely let Australia down when called upon.

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