Mitchell Starc Returns to Australia's Playing XI After Three Months

Australia’s gun pacer Mitchell Starc returned to the team’s playing XI after a gap of three months. Starc had missed the action due to muscle tear. However, Starc who was the leading wicket-taker in the previous edition of the World Cup was included in the playing XI for the second warm-up match against New Zealand.

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Meanwhile, Australia had won the first warm-up match against their trans-Tasmanian neighbours by one wicket. On the other hand, the hosts have posted a decent score of 277 runs in the second match.

Starc is going to hold the key for Australia.

Former Australian skipper Steven Smith scored a fine knock of 89 runs whereas David Warner was dismissed for a duck. Meanwhile, Pat Cummins has been rested in the ongoing fixture. Furthermore, Nathan Lyon and Glenn Maxwell were also rested.

Interestingly, there was no toss in the warm-up and New Zealand choose to bowl first by mutual agreement.

Here is the playing XI of both teams:

Australia XI: Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Michael Nesar, Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott, Nathan Lyon

New Zealand XI: Hamish Rutherford, George Worker, Will Young, Tom Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Tom Blundell, Daryl Mitchell, Todd Astle, Doug Bracewell, Blair Tickner, Hamish Bennett.

On the other hand, Australia has suffered a huge blow ahead of the World Cup. Australia’s rising star Jhye Richardson has been ruled out of the upcoming World Cup with a shoulder injury. Hence, Kane Richardson has replaced him in Australia’s World Cup squad.

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Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc will like to hit the ground running for Australia. Starc is going to hold the key for the team in the upcoming World Cup. The southpaw pacer had scalped 22 wickets and he was awarded the Player of the Tournament in 2015 edition. Thus, he would like to repeat the same performance in the upcoming ODI showpiece.