Bouncers on Mitchell Starc's menu for ODI series

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc on Wednesday, reckoned that the World Champions would look to exploit England's frailties against the short ball in the upcoming five-match One-Day International (ODI) series starting on September 3. The top-ranked ODI bowler opined that grounds with outfields larger than the one at the SWALEC Stadium, used for the one-off T20I last week, would assist Australia's strategy as they hope to deny the hosts, chances to play the ball on the up.

"I reckon we can probably bowl a lot more bouncers than we did in that T20 game," Starc said when asked about Australia's game plan. "Even in that game against Ireland we probably didn't bowl enough either. The boundaries here in Southampton are quite large, so without having that straight hit ... and the square boundaries are back even further (than Cardiff), those bouncers for both teams are probably going to come into play," he said.

Australia were undone in the one-off T20I by a calculated assault by the returning Moeen Ali, who used the short boundaries in Cardiff to great effect to score a46-ball 72. However, Starc opined that, despite the absence of Mitchell Johnson, who got rid of Moeen at Lord's with short delivery, Australia had a fast-bowling attack capable of pegging their hosts back.

"I'm glad I don't have to face our bowling attack," Starc said. "We've all played with and against each other for a while and we just push each other in training to try and get better. Someone mentioned how fast Patty (Pat Cummins) was bowling the other day so it's good to see him going well, bowling quick and taking wickets."`

The 22-year old Cummins breached the 150 kmph-mark on more than an occasion in his hostile spell (two for 25) in the T20I but said that he didn't feel like he was bowling any faster than usual. Senior partner Starc, however, observed that Cummins had hit upon a nice rhythm through the preceding Test series and hoped for the youngster to carry on his good form for the remainder of the tour.

"Generally when you're bowling your quickest you feel like you're bowling slow," Starc said. "Patty has been looking real good through the Test series as well. His actions have been nice and hes bowling some rockets the last few games so it's nice to be on the same team and watching him bowl those quick balls to other batsmen. Hopefully it can continue for five games and I think he'll have a successful tour."