Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 and Brad Haddin
The stand-in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 captain, Michael Clarke feels the opening duo of Shane Watson and Brad Haddin will be crucial to Australia’s World Cup campaign and has urged the pair to fire in a bid to defend their title in the mega event.
“I can see our opening partnership certainly providing that,” said Clarke, who himself is struggling for form over the past few months. “I think Watto and Hadds are a wonderful combination. They suit each other. On any given day, one can go off and the other can play that anchor role.”
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-South-Wales-c823 batsman said that the subcontinent conditions will suit the openers and the initial 10, 15 overs would be crucial.
Clarke expressed satisfaction over the run rate and reckoned that the side needs to get off to good starts while retaining wickets.
“That's the thing at the moment; our run rate's very good but we are probably losing too many wickets in the first 25 overs,” he said. “In saying that, leading up to the World Cup, I think that the first 15 overs, it will be crucial to go a little bit harder… I would like a few more wickets in the bank for the last 10 overs.”
Michael Clarke, who has led Australia to a one-day series win over England in absence of Ricky Ponting, feels the return of regular captain at the top of the order would add strength to the Australian batting line-up.
Ponting has almost recovered from the finger injury that he had picked during the third Test of 2010-11 Ashes series and is expected to start training on Wednesday, same day when Australia take England in the sixth One-day International at Sydney Cricket Ground.
The Aussies have bounced back from their recent Ashes defeat at the hands of England to take an unassailable lead of 4-1 after five matches of the seven-match series.
Despite having already won the series, the 29-year-old right-hander feels there is still some room for improvement and a lot of work needs to be done to fine tune the approach of players.
Clarke also praised Brett Lee’s role in the ongoing series against England. He said that the return of express pacer into the squad in a very good form is heartening with less than three weeks to go before the mega event kicks off. He also said that Lee's experience can come in really handy in the one-day format of the game for them.
Australia, after completing the series against England, would head to the Subcontinent without taking a break to take part in the warm-up matches before starting their World Cup campaign against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 on 21 February, 2011.
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