Smith ‘not worried’ by absence of pace trio against England

Stand-in captain Steve Smith says he is “not worried” about the absence of Australia’s three key fast bowlers for their Champions Trophy opener against England on Saturday.

Left-armer Mitchell Starc and skipper Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood both injured, and Mitchell Starc, who was left out of the squad for personal reasons, are both missing.

For the first time in 14 years, the famed pace trio hasn’t played in a major white-ball competition.

“It’s a little bit different”, Smith said. “I’ve played for 10-plus years with those guys.

We’re thinking about what we have here and the opportunities those guys have, they say, but we’re not worried about missing a few of our gun fast bowlers.

Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc have 525 one-day international wickets between them. They were all part of Australia’s 2015 and 2023 World Cup wins and have featured in the past five Ashes series.

Nathan Ellis, the only other pace bowler selected for the squad prior to the withdrawals, will likely lead the attack.

Left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, seamer Sean Abbott and left-armer Ben Dwarshuis have since been added.

Jos Buttler, the England captain, stated that he is still anticipating a “really tough challenge.”

The three men have been a real pillar of success for Australia for a long time, so they will naturally be a disappointment for their team, he said.

Sri Lanka, who did not even qualify for the Champions Trophy, thrashed them in their two matches of preparation.

” We both didn’t play as well as we would have liked over the past couple of weeks but that doesn’t mean a great deal coming into tomorrow, “Smith, 35, said.

” It’s a fresh start, a new tournament and two good teams going at it. “

Afghanistan and South Africa join England and Australia in Group B. In the first match of the group on Friday, the Proteas defeated Afghanistan.

Only the top two teams in each group progress to the semi-finals, leaving Saturday’s beaten team with little room for manoeuvre.

Australia won the 2023 World Cup despite losing their first two matches, according to Smith, who argued that this format required them to be “stuck in” from the beginning.

He said, “We started out slowly before finding a groove and getting into our work.”