ICC World Cup 2019 | Jason Behrendorff deserved his five wickets, says Mitchell Starc

The Australian cricket team have slowly and steadily settled into a consistent rhythm as they managed to secure a spot in the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC World Cup being held in England. They registered a resounding 64-run victory against hosts and favourites - England - at Lord’s on Tuesday. While Aaron Finch starred with the bat in the first innings, it was Jason Behrendorff and Mitchell Starc who were clinical with the ball as they tore apart the English batting order in the second innings.

Starc, who ended the match with figures of 4/43, heaped praise on teammate Behrendorff who completed a five-wicket haul in just his second World Cup match yesterday. 

"Dorff bowled awesome, beautifully, and deserved his five wickets - and it's great to see him do so well here at Lord's against England. I've bowled a fair bit with Mitchell Johnson in the past and this showed again today that there's no reason why you can't play two left-armers when the pitch and match-ups suit.

"Dorff actually asked me if there was anything of note about the wicket here and, to be honest, I didn't have much for him as I haven't been here for about four years," Starc was quoted as saying by Firstpost.

The former Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer issued a word of caution ahead of the upcoming tie against New Zealand who finished runners-up at the 2015 World Cup. Starc said that the defending champions can't afford to take their foot off the gas ahead of the knock-out stage.

"There's a lot of cricket to come before semifinal time. We've got two really important games but playing here at Lord's where the final is going to be has given us confidence.

"We've got another game here against New Zealand, which is going to be tough. They're playing some fantastic cricket and they've really gone under the radar. Nobody's really spoken too much about them and they keep winning games," Starc added.