Cricket World Cup: Captain Pat Cummins declares Australia 'ready to go' for South Africa clash
Australia captain Pat Cummins admits his team were below their best in their tournament opener and declared them "ready to go" for their second World Cup fixture against South Africa in Lucknow.
Pat Cummins.Five-time winners Australia are bidding to avoid a second straight defeat after losing to India by six wickets on Sunday in their opening match and face another tough task at the Ekana Stadium.
The Proteas thrashed Sri Lanka by 102 runs in their opener last Saturday after making the highest score in World Cup history at 428-5.
They also won their one-day series against Australia 3-2 last month on home soil after fighting back from 2-0 down.
Cummins told a press conference: "Disappointed after the first match, we weren't at our best. So everyone's pretty driven the last few days.
"Everyone's trained really well and yeah, I'm ready to go for this one."
Cummins, who said Travis Head will have another scan on Thursday after fracturing his left hand in the fourth one-day match against South Africa, feels the two sides’ similar playing styles could make for a classic encounter.
"We always match up quite similarly," he added. "They've always got some fast bowlers and some batters that take the game on, maybe a leg spinner.
"It always feels like it's a clash of two very similar teams. No doubt it will be another great game."
South Africa batter Quinton de Kock – he and team-mates Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram all made centuries against Sri Lanka – believes the sides are evenly matched.
De Kock said: "Both teams are going to come out fighting tomorrow, and whoever makes the right choices under pressure will be the stronger team at the end of the day."
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