ICC World Cup 2019 | Mark Waugh believes a total of 500 is achievable in the ODIs
Former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh believes that getting 500 in an ODI is no longer improbable and the milestone could well be achieved in the upcoming World Cup. Meanwhile, Justin Langer says that they’ll stick to their strengths instead of trying to play like their rivals.
On 12th March, 2006, Australia became the first team to reach the landmark of 400 runs in an innings, before South Africa chased down the mammoth total and became the second team to achieve the milestone in the same match itself. 13 years since that memorable day, a score of 400+ has been reached 18 more times, with the most recent being in February earlier this year when England scored 418/6 against the West Indies.
This has led Mark Waugh to believe that a cricketing giant when facing off a minnow can post a total of 500 or more in the upcoming World Cup. "It sounds unbelievable, you just don't think you could get 500 but I think you could, yeah,” he was quoted saying by cricket.com.au.
"I think one of the better teams against one of the weaker teams it might happen. The bowlers are going to cop some pasting I think,” he added.
With changes in ICC regulations allowing new balls from both ends, pitches getting flatter over the years and the rather small grounds in England when compared to, say, India or Australia, his prediction seems to be very much realistic, as was agreed on by pacer Mark Wood.
“That is a realistic target for our one-day team," Mark Wood told BBC Sport.
“It's almost normal to get 350; 400 is easily gettable. We truly believe that we can chase down high scores, no matter what the opposition get," he added, having been a part of the team that posted the world record total of 481/6 against Australia last year
The English team had an average score of 457 across 4 ODIs in the recently concluded series against Pakistan and with firepower they have in their ranks with the likes of hard-hitting Ben Stokes, Bairstow, Jason Roy and Morgan in their squad, they are the favourites to achieve the said goal. However, even as high scores are becoming more frequent with a somewhat shift in the dynamic, Australian coach Justin Langer said his team will stick to their own philosophy.
"When everyone says we’ve got to start playing like England or start playing like New Zealand or start playing like India, no, we’ll keep playing like Australia because we’ve won four of the past five World Cups and that’s something to be proud of," he said.
When it comes to playing India and England it’s just like match play. We’re just going to have to compete harder and be ready for them so, in terms of scores, a lot will have to do with the grounds we play on, the conditions, whether we’re chasing or setting, all those sorts of things. We showed in India and Dubai that, if we stick to it, we’ll score big enough scores to win games of cricket," he concluded, with his team set to commence their campaign against Pakistan on June 1.
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