ICC World Cup 2019 | After a gentle start, Australia now look the real deal, writes Allan Border

After a hot and cold start, Australia have managed to pull their weight together and are sitting at the apex of the points table at the moment. They have won the tournament five times and certainly know how to perform under pressure. Australia made a terrific comeback against New Zealand and registered a solid win to boost their confidence. Australian legend Allan Border is quite impressed with Australia’s return to form and reckons them as the team to beat. 

“After a gentle start, Australia now look the real deal and the win against New Zealand has brought back that old familiar feeling that often leads to a World Cup trophy. This was a very impressive win because they did it the hard way. In this tournament, they have relied on Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith at the top of the order to get runs but all of a sudden, they had to dig deep – and to come through that is a very good sign,” border wrote in his column for ICC. 

Aaron Finch and David Warner have been prolific at the top and scored runs at will while the middle-order has done a decent job. Against New Zealand, Usman Khawaja played a sluggish innings but did well to score 88 and keep the Australian ship afloat. 

“I did not think Usman Khawaja was very fluent but he did well to hang in there for his 88 and New Zealand will feel frustrated that they had a couple of missed opportunities. Their fielding was not perfect, even though Martin Guptill took a stormer to get rid of Smith,” Border added.