Australia goes the Australia Way to Indimidate on the Big Stage

Australia makes it to another World Cup Final. This is their seventh. They come into the Finals on the back of eight wins in a row. Familiar territory for Australia? They’ve had dominating and arguably perfect campaigns in 2003 and 2007. This time though, the aura of perfection has not been as evident.

They’ve had their vulnerabilities. Back in 2003 or 2007, Australia had a core group of 15 or so players who were consistently around. It was after 2007 that their downfall slowly began with new players quickly stepping up. Australia generally are known for building a core that sticks together for a generation. Most of the players in this squad were in the line-up during the 2015 World Cup, and later the 2021 T20 World Cup and 2023 WTC Finals.

They are full of experience and this tournament could be the culmination of all their efforts over the last decade. The vulnerabilities though were evident as mentioned. Coming into the tournament, Australia did not have much going right. Back-to-back series losses and injuries to some of their most important members disturbed them. Travis Head started with a broken hand, Mitchell Starc had his niggles, Josh Hazlewood did not play much in the last year with his own side strains.

Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa added to their injury concerns ahead of the tournament. In the end, Marnus Labuschagne came in as a late replacement for Ashton Agar. Cameron Green and Alex Carey were low on form and their captain, Pat Cummins only captained Australia twice in ODIs.

They started the tournament with two losses. In their third game against Sri Lanka the Sri Lankans were threatening at 125 for no loss. Pat Cummins though finally put his foot down. He opened the game up dismissing their openers, sparked a collapse and made it easy for Australia to win the game. The win at Lucknow sparked their return with David Warner in particular looking very ferocious from there on.

Against Pakistan once again Australia were in trouble. This time Marcus Stoinis stood up with the ball after David Warner’s efforts with the bat. The games went on with Australia winning, but winning after some tough fights. They scraped through against New Zealand despite scoring 388.

They were out and staring down the barrel against Afghanistan. Glenn Maxwell though, on one foot played one of the best innings ever to bail them out. Against England it was Adam Zampa, who brought Australia back. England, who needed a win to stay alive were in the game throughout. Australia on the other hand were ahead but rarely looked in control. They kept handing the momentum over until Adam Zampa seized the moment.

The rise could be attributed to three players. Pat Cummins who removed the Sri Lankan openers to trigger a collapse led the way. Adam Zampa, bowling with niggles for most parts of the first two weeks carried the spin workload as the only specialist spinner in the side. David Warner at 37 proved why he is indispensable in World Cups. He was their man of the tournament in 2021 and is cementing his place as one of their best openers.

Marnus Labuschagne is another who had his moments. Not grabbing the spotlight, Labuschagne has manned the hot spots on the field and is doing his part in keeping the middle order together. His small contributions have helped with Glenn Maxwell coming after him and batting with all the clarity in the World, over his own role.

Labuschagne and Josh Inglis though have often gone under the radar with their silent performances. Throughout their tournament, barring Adam Zampa and David Warner who are close to the top on the runs and wickets charts, Australia has looked like a middling team.

Their captain, for all his efforts, has looked spent with the weight of captaincy and fast bowling on him. Like with the Test team though, Pat Cummins is stepping up in the small moments. His rock-like performance against Afghanistan, supporting Maxwell, and flourishing in the Semi-Finals again highlight how his character comes out when the going gets tough.

He does it all without the aura or get-in-the-face attitude of previous Australian captains. Aggressive in his own way, Pat Cummins looks a lot more friendly than his predecessors. His approach to captaincy and ability to stand when it matters has made a huge difference.

With one game left the Australian Team are on the verge of something special. In the last eight years Austraila has one the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and the WTC Championship. Four of their players were apart of each of those campaigns. Ten of them were there in Dubai two years ago.

Now, a generation of Australian Cricketers have a chance to hold two World Cups, a T20 World Cup and a World Test Championship trophy.