Men's ODI WC: Ian Healy critical of Australia's middle-order performance despite win over England

Mumbai, Nov 6 (IANS) Despite Australia winning over England by 33 runs in the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, legendary wicketkeeper-batter Ian Healy was critical of the middle order performance, which he felt wasn’t up to the mark at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

At the Narendra Modi Stadium, Australia won their fifth consecutive game of the World Cup after defeating England by 33 runs and subsequently knocking the defending champions out of the competition.

In a match where they missed Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh for varied reasons, Marnus Labuschagne top scored with 71 while Cameron Green (47) and Marcus Stoinis (35) chipped in with handy contributions as Australia made 286 all out, after being poised to go above 300 at one point.

“They all threw their wickets away. It’s just not good enough. I was really pleased that we got a lot of hard work done because we were two wickets down for not many. Travis Head and David Warner were gone and for Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, it was made for them.”

“Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis and Cameron Green could’ve powered up at the end (but) they were quite wasteful as well. They just did enough (and) we still have plenty of work to do (to improve),” said Healy on SEN Radio.

But leg-spinner Adam Zampa emerged as the trump card for Australia to win the match. Zampa made a late 29 off 19 with the bat while sharing an important 38-run partnership with Mitchell Starc, and took 3-21 with the ball to get an Australian victory.

“The problem was that he (Zampa) had to be that good. We relied on his batting which was the difference. He made 29 runs which is why we were able to post a score to win by 30. We were very reliant on Zampa,” added Healy.

Now at third place in the points table, Australia can secure a spot in the Men’s ODI World Cup semi-finals if they manage to get a win over an impressive Afghanistan on November 7 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.