MELBOURNE: For the second time at this World Cup, Australia’s Mitchell Starc and New Zealand’s Trent Boult will be asked to deliver a killer blow that could determine their team’s fate in the final on Sunday.
The two lethal left-arm fast bowlers will go head-to head at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as the tournament’s leading wicket-takers who lit up the group clash between the co-hosts exactly a month ago.
Boult grabbed 5-27 to bundle Australia out for 151 in Auckland before Starc hit back with 6-28 to leave the Black Caps nine down and only managing to go past the modest target due to a Kane Williamson six.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said it would be hard to forget the performance of both Boult and Starc in what was a “a tremendous advertisement for the game”.
“Mitchell and Boult put outstanding spells in that game and both were able to get the ball to swing quite substantially,” said McCullum. “They posed a lot of questions with wicket-taking deliveries.”
The two 25-year-olds have played a major role in taking the trans-Tasman rivals to the final, with Boult’s 21 wickets in eight games just one more than Starc. But the Australian has played a match less following a washed out game against Brisbane.
Boult has now taken more wickets in eight World Cup games than he did in his first 16 ODIs where he had only 18 scalps.