Australia’s one-wicket World Cup loss to New Zealand still plays on the mind of skipper Michael Clarke ahead of his teams’ finals campaign.
The Aussies enter the tournament’s knockout stage on Friday with their Adelaide Oval quarter-final, and were on Saturday given a confidence-boosting seven-wicket win over Scotland to send them on their way.
“It is a real positive for us going into the quarter-final having another win,” Clarke told reporters after the Bellerive Oval victory.
“One little hiccup against New Zealand, that is in the front of our minds and we (have to) make sure that no matter who we play against now, we’re fully focused and playing our best cricket because obviously it’s the knockout stage.”
New Zealand overcame Australia on February 28 at Eden Park and the Kiwis remain unbeaten at the top of Pool A, one place ahead of the Aussies.
Opener David Warner this week admitted he and his teammates suffered from nerves in the match against NZ and the loss clearly remains a sore point for the squad.
“I would like to have not lost a game but as you know once you get to the quarter-finals that’s the most important part, getting there firstly, and then having success,” Clarke said.
Saturday’s victory was not the challenging hitout the Australians needed ahead of the finals.
Set a miserly target of 131 for victory, Clarke’s men took fewer than 16 overs during the rain-interrupted match to reach 3-133.
The skipper had hoped for a long innings for himself and a few of his batsman and admitted he felt a bit “rusty” in the middle, despite having the longest knock and top scoring with 47.
“Most importantly everybody in the squad mentally is ready to go,” Clarke said.
Paceman Mitchell Starc is certainly in fine form, boasting figures of 4-14 against Scotland, his performance taking him to the top of the tournament’s wicket-taking table, on 16.
“It was nice to see we all did the basics very well as a fielding unit, as a bowling unit and then some very selfless (batting) to get us across the line,” said a modest Starc.
Australia’s quarter-final opponents will be decided on Sunday when Pakistan meet Ireland in Adelaide.
