World Cup 2023: Won't be rotating bowlers unless it's absolutely necessary, remarks Pat Cummins

Australia skipper Pat Cummins has stated that the team will be opting to stick with the same bowling lineup throughout the World Cup and will try to avoid rotating their bowlers.

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Australia's campaign in the World Cup 2023 kicked off in a way they wouldn't have liked as they suffered a loss against India by six wickets in the opening game.

Right-arm pacer Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers for them as he scalped three wickets while left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc also contributed by dismissing Ishan Kishan. The Australian unit has a strong pace battery going into the tournament and skipper Pat Cummins has stated that they will not rotate the bowlers unless it is absolutely necessary.

"The intention is to try and play every game. We won't be rotating bowlers unless we have to.... (if) someone is feeling extremely fatigued, someone is managing a niggle and needs rest," Pat Cummins said on the eve of Australia's second game against South Africa.

"The intention is to try and have everyone on the selection table for each game. You pick your best 11. It's a World Cup, you can't really take any game lightly. Probably later on in the tournament, we'll look at that if we need to. But at the moment, yeah, there are no plans," Pat Cummins said in the pre-match press conference.

Australia will play against South Africa on October 12 in their next game here and Cummins feels that it will be a contest between similar teams.

"We match quite similarly as in we have got some fast bowlers and batters that take the game on and maybe a leg spinner. I feel like it's a clash of two very similar teams," he stressed.

The pace bowlers shone with their performances in the game but leggie Adam Zampa turned out to be expensive with the ball. He conceded 53 runs from eight overs and the kind of spell he bowled might be an issue of concern for the Australian side. However, Cummins thinks otherwise and he has backed the leg-spinner.

"His (Zampa's) prep leading in was probably a bit lighter than he would normally have but yeah, I wouldn't look too far into the last game. I thought he bowled okay but it's pretty hard defending 200 and trying to create something out of nothing - so I'm sure he'd be great out there. Again, if you have a bit more of a total to bowl to, he's one of our key guys," added Pat Cummins.

Marcus Stoinis missed the game against India due to an injury but the all-rounder might be back in the lineup for the game against South Africa. Cummins stated that he is fit but kept suspense over his place in the XI. "He's (Marcus) fit, we will announce the team tomorrow. It's a ground that he knows pretty well. It will be between him and a couple of the other guys. The conditions are a little bit different to how they are in the Indian Premier League. The wicket looks really good," he explained.