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Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy clash against South Africa, Australian batter Alex Carey said that despite the inexperience in the bowling attack in the absence of its frontline pacers, he will still back his bowlers to defend the total.
After a memorable win over arch-rivals England thanks to magnificent knocks from Josh Inglis, Carey and Glenn Maxwell, the ODI world champions would be aiming to solidify their presence in Champions Trophy semifinals. Despite the fact that an inexperienced bowling line-up missing skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood conceded 351 runs against Three Lions, Aussie batters rose to the occasion, proving why despite all odds, it is not right to write off Australia completely. Speaking about if he backs his inexperienced bowling line-up to defend big totals, he said that there is some experience in form of spinner Adam Zampa and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is also a "smart bowler". "And we have got Steve Smith who is a fantastic captain. I think if we are to bat first throughout the tournament, I will back our boys to defend. Hopefully a good score of 300 plus, but if not, Nathan Ellis has got a lot of tricks, got a lot of good slow balls. Spencer Johnson's really damaging up the top, left arm seamer and so has Ben Dwarshuis, and you have got Sean Abbott ready to go as well so we have come into this tournament really confident that our bowling attack will still do a fantastic job without the big three - and hopefully, as a batting group, we can score as many runs and make it easy for our bowlers," he added. Having given the wicketkeeping gloves to Josh Inglis, Alex is enjoying his new role as a fielder but would still "prefer wearing the gloves". He also took a fantastic leaping catch at mid-on to dismiss Phil Salt in the clash against England. "It was nice to run around in the field the other day. A different perspective on the game standing out at deep square leg and deep point and the crowd was fantastic, they were very kind and it was a pleasure to run around in the field with the Pakistan fans behind us," he concluded. Australia: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly. (ANI)
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