Sydney, Sep 12: Australia coach Micky Arthur has said he would need young pace men Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in the Twenty20 squad for the World Cup because of the x-factor in their bowling.
Arthur said the way 22-year-old Starc (3-11) and 19-year-old Cummins (3-15) sliced through Pakistan''s batting to bowl out the team for its lowest total of 74 in Monday night''s third game of their T20 series in Dubai on an unhelpful pitch showed the value of speedsters in any conditions.
“They have got a little bit of extra pace. The best way to stop the (scoring) rate in Twenty20 cricket is by taking wickets, so you need guys who do something a little bit different. So you want those x-factor players,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Arthur, as saying.
“I''ve heard it so often said that pace doesn''t play a role in the sub-continent. Pace through the air plays a role anywhere. If the guys can deliver their variations like they did tonight, they''re going to pick up a lot of wickets,” he added.
“We''ve got the x-factor of a little bit of pace. We don''t possess a Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan''s off spinner who was man of the series) but we''ve got other guys who certainly compensate for that,” he said.
Arthur further said: “Brad Hogg bowling through the middle overs has the ability like Saeed Ajmal has to take wickets.”
© ANI
