Shane Warne says revitalised Australia can pull off World Cup shock

A week after Australia completed a dramatic series victory in India by winning their last three matches, ending a dismal run of 22 defeats in 26 completed one-day internationals, Shane Warne believes the team are once again striking fear into opponents and can be spurred to World Cup glory by the reintegration of David Warner and Steve Smith.

Warner and Smith’s 12-month bans for ball-tampering come to an end this month and they will be free to join up with the rest of the World Cup squad when they get together for a training camp in April.

“I think Australia have just started to believe they can win again and I think other teams are now saying, ‘Hang on, Australia might have just found something,’” Warne said.

“Suddenly there is a bit of fear again about playing Australia. I think no one has feared Australia in any format over the last 12 months. They always thought they could beat them but now there is a bit of worry.

“To win a World Cup you have to get together, create a sense of fun and you start to get on a bit of a roll together. The reintegration of Smith and Warner should be fun rather than cagey. It should be fun for those guys to get together.

“Smith and Warner are going to be hungry, determined and excited to be back playing rather than worrying about answering questions. I think they’ll just be excited to get out and play and they’ll be determined to show how much they’ve missed the game and how good they are, and that could rub off on the team and take the team with them. I don’t think there will be any issue with Smith and Warner coming back.”

Having played in six of the past eight World Cup finals, including the most recent in 2015, which they won, Australia are unused to simply making up the numbers. They are third favourites for the competition, behind the hosts and the ICC’s top-ranked side, England and India respectively.

“Australia have been pretty ordinary for the last 12 months, I think they’ve played poorly,” Warne said. “But Australia perform really well in big tournaments. You add Smith and Warner back into that side and they’re going to give it a shake.

(THE GUARDIAN)