Langer delighted with Smith’s progress

LONDON: Australia head coach Justin Langer has said that he was impressed with Steve Smith’s progress ahead of the ICC World Cup 2019 and called him the key to their success at the tournament.

Smith scored 89* and 91* in the warm-up games in Brisbane against a New Zealand XI, and Langer said that it was good to have him back. “[I] watched Steve Smith batting against New Zealand in those three practice games, he’s literally a master of the game, so it’s nice to have him back,” Langer told reporters. “He loves batting – he’s shadow batting on the sand, he’s shadow batting in the shower – I’m not joking.”

Although the 2019 World Cup is expected to be high-scoring, Langer felt that Australia’s bowlers would be critical to the team’s success. The One-day International series between England and Pakistan has given a preview of things to come at the World Cup, with even scores in excess of 350 not proving to be safe.

“There’s a lot of talk about batting now in white-ball cricket, but our bowling is absolutely critical,” Langer said. “In T20, it’s absolutely critical and the same in ODI cricket. You’re going to have a pretty thick skin to do well in international cricket, particularly on the flatter wickets and the fast outfields and the big squares we play on in England.

“They’re going to have to have thick skin, but they’re physically and mentally tough, and they’ll be ready for it.” Langer also said that Australia are aware of what has given them success in the past and will continue to do the same. Australia are the defending champions and have won the World Cup four times in the last five editions, beginning in 1999.

“When everyone says we’ve got to start playing like England or start playing like New Zealand or start playing like India, no - we’ll keep playing like Australia because we’ve won four of the past five World Cups and that’s something to be proud of. The boys are aware of it and we know if we stick to the Australian way of playing great cricket... history has shown we’ll be pretty good.”

Australia will play two warm-up games, against England on May 25 and against Sri Lanka on May 27, before their opening World Cup game, against Afghanistan on June 1 in Bristol.