ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Strongest Australian Playing XI
The last ten months have been quite difficult for Australia. The reason being their failure to cope with the nonexistence of Steve Smith and David Warner. However, the Australians will be hoping for the banned duo's comeback as soon as their ban ends on 29 March 2019.
Australia's chances in the upcoming 2019 World Cup will heavily rely on how Warner and Smith will fare after the bans as the two have been an indispensable part of the Australian cricket team across all the formats. Nonetheless, it is worthy to note that, despite struggling in the recent past, Australia has managed to mark out some crucial players who are expected to play an influential role in the upcoming quadrennial tournament. Hence, team selection will be the key for Australia in the grand 50-over event.
Thus, without a tinge of doubt, Australia will have a tough time while churning out a competitive XI for them in the 2019 World Cup. Much so, after having gone through the dynamics of the current status of the Australian team, let us try and figure out the strongest XI that Australian might feature in the upcoming World Cup.
#1 Aaron Finch (c)
Since January 1, 2018, Australia has employed as many as six batsmen, including Warner, in their opening department. However, none of them have fared decently except Aaron Finch who has played 12 matches at that position while scoring 499 runs at an average of 41.58.
Thus, with solid numbers, Finch will be the constant in Australia's opening department for the 2019 World Cup. Since Warner and Smith's bans, Finch has also captained Australia in six games while winning two of them. Thus, having had a brief captaincy experience, Australia might hand the captaincy duties to Finch in the coming World Cup.
#2 David Warner
With Warner set to complete his ban on 29 March, it is inevitable that the southpaw will be holding the opening position, alongside Aaron Finch, in the upcoming World Cup. Although Warner is currently suffering from an injury, he is expected to be available for selection after completing his ban. Hence, he will get an adequate amount of time to prepare for the 2019 World Cup.
Warner has been Australia's best bet in the opening department for quite some time now, and thus Australia will hope for a better performance from him at the grand 50-over event. The left-hander's addition will bolster the opening department for Australia as they will have a more stable opening department than they have had in the last ten months.