Veteran Starc believes Australia is 'peaking at right time' at World Cup

Mitchell Starc on Monday said Australia have lived up to their reputation of peaking at the right time after overcoming a shaky start to win seven straight ICC World Cup 2023 matches The fivetime champions take on South Africa in the second semifinal in Kolkata on Thursday after the two teams ended on 14 points each in the group stage Australia lost a oneday series in South Africa followed by a series defeat to India ahead of the World Cup They then suffered opening defeats at the tournament to the hosts by six wickets and the Proteas by a huge 134 runs Its been quite busy the guys who were in Africa as well I think we counted its like our 15th flight since weve been in India Starc said on the gruelling schedule For the guys who were in Africa as well its been a jampacked 10 or 11 weeks Its a World Cup its what we play for We seem to be peaking at the right time which Australia tend to do in tournament play The left armquick added Whilst we didnt start the way we wanted to weve certainly had good contributions from individuals along the way and we find ourselves in another World Cup semifinalAlso ReadThe unbeatable underdogs and everything in betweenAustralia have been the most successful team in the World Cup with title wins in the 1987 India 1999 England 2003 South Africa 2007 West Indies and 2015 Australia and New Zealand editions They were runnersup in the inaugural edition in 1975 and then again in 1996 reached the quarterfinals in 2011 and lost to eventual winners England in the 2019 semifinals Starc who was part of Australias 2015 ODI and 2021 T20 World Cup triumphs said the experienced team will not be overawed by Thursdays occasion at Kolkatas iconic Eden GardensWhether its goosebumps or not its just another game he said Ive played a lot of oneday cricketperforming in big matches is not something thats really spoken about Its a very calm group this one and fairly experienced with a couple of younger less experienced guys gelling in really nicely Australia have beaten South Africa twice in World Cup semifinals in 1999 and 2007 Both times they went on to win the title Starc 33 and a veteran of 119 oneday internationals was the leading bowler in the World Cups of 2015 and 2019 with 22 and 27 wickets respectively In all he has 230 wickets in the format He and fellow quick Pat Cummins have 10 wickets each in the tournament so far with teammate and legspinner Adam Zampa leading the bowling charts with 22Also ReadBruised but not batteredThe lack of reverse swing due to two balls being used in each innings at the World Cup appears to be one of the factors for Starcs lack of wickets Theres a lot of contributing factors he said The wickets have certainly been two very different wickets what gets through the day and through the night Speed is not the beall and endall over here in India as well How you go about that tactically and whether its variations or what time you bowl through a game or whether you win or lose a toss can affect potency I certainly havent been at the level that I would have liked But now theres a chance at the pointy end to make the biggest impact Starc who missed a lot of cricket after the Ashes due a shoulder and groin injury did not reveal the reason for sitting out the last match against Bangladesh If I only played when I was 100 per cent I would have probably played 10 games he said All bowlers around the world deal with stuff we just dont have to talk about it like batters doWith agency inputs