Intention is to play every match, we won't be rotating bowlers unless we have to: Pat Cummins
Australia skipper Pat Cummins on Wednesday said the team doesn't plan to rotate its fast bowlers during the ODI World Cup unless it's absolutely necessary.
Australia, the most successful team in the competition, has a fiery pace department comprising Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
"The intention is to try and play every game. We won't be rotating bowlers unless we have to.... (if) someone is feeling extremely fatigued, someone is managing a niggle and needs rest," Cummins said on the eve of Australia's second game against South Africa.
"The intention is to try and have everyone on the selection table for each game. You pick your best 11. It's a World Cup, you can't really take any game lightly. Probably later on in the tournament, we'll look at that if we need to. But at the moment, yeah, there's no plans."
Australia's World Cup campaign was off to a bitter start as they lost their opener by six wickets against hosts India last week.
The men from Down Under take on rivals South Africa, who head to the fixture on the back of an electrifying win.
Talking about the rivalry against the Proteas, Cummins said the two teams have a similar composition.
"We match quite similarly as in we have got some fast bowlers and batters that take the game on and maybe a leg spinner. I feel like it's a clash of two very similar teams."
With Ashton Agar ruled out of the mega event due to a calf injury, Australia are left with only one frontline spinner in Adam Zampa, who had a horror show against India, giving away 53 runs in 8 over for no wicket.
"His prep leading in was probably a bit lighter than he would normally have but yeah, I wouldn't look too far into the last game," Cummins said.
"I thought he bowled okay but it's pretty hard defending 200 and trying to create something out of nothing - so I'm sure he'd be great out there. Again, if you have a bit more of a total to bowl to, he's one of our key guys."
Both Zampa and Glenn Maxwell struggled to grip the ball at the Chepauk, owing to the dew.
Asked if Australia will be wary of opting to bowl second against South Africa, Cummins said: "I think it's different at every venue. Probably ll have another look tonight see if there's dew - but it doesn't seem like there's as much dew at this ground."
"I don't really have a strong opinion on the dew in one-day cricket. In some games, the ball gets heavy, and it's actually better to bowl at night."
"In other games, it gets so slippery that it's hard to grip onto. So, it's kind of, it's a bit different to T20 cricket."
Asked if Marcus Stoinis, who has recovered from a hamstring injury, will be a part of the playing XI on Thursday given that he knows the ground well having played with the Lucknow Super Giants here, Cummins refused to reply in the affirmative.
"He's fit, we will announce the team tomorrow. It's a ground that he knows pretty well. It will be between him and a couple of the other guys. The conditions are little bit different to how they are in the IPL. The wicket looks really good."
Negotiating the middle overs both as batter and bowlers is a vital part of the 50-over format and Cummins feels that Australia needs to perform better there.
"It's no secret that that period of the game is most important in one-day cricket and the same for our bowling group. We have to try and find wickets. It's tough sometimes to fault something in the middle. It's the same for batters."
"How do we create partnerships? If they're bowling well, how do we shift the pressure back onto their bowlers and try and force their hand to make some changes? It's a real delicate balance in one-day cricket of not taking huge risks, but it's not like Test cricket where you can wait it out. You have to keep the run rate ticking over."
50 over format the most physically taxing
An all-format player, Cummins finds one-day cricket the most physically taxing of the three formats.
"The biggest challenge is bowling 10 overs. I find it the most physically taxing if you are playing 2 or 3 games a week.
"In T20s if you bowl one really good over it can be match-winning, in ODIs it's not really the case. it's tough but I do enjoy it."
