AUSSIES BRACED FOR FLAT TRACKS AND LITTLE SWING

AUSTRALIA coach Justin Langer says World Cup pitches will not offer fast bowlers any swing, and strike weapon Pat Cummins fears he will have just 18 deliveries to cash in on the new ball.

The Australians’ data shows England has produced the least swing out of all ODI countries in the past 20 years.

“No, I don’t expect any swing,” Langer told News Corp.

“Certainly not in the World Cup, maybe in the Ashes — that’s a different discussion.

“If you look at the (one-day) scores here, both domestically and internationally, that suggests the ball’s not doing much.

“They tend to be battingorientated games.

“We’ve seen it in the recent England- Pakistan series and that’s a reflection on the wickets being very flat.”

Cummins declared he wanted to partner left-armer Mitchell Starc in opening the bowling for Australia in its World Cup opener against Afghanistan on Saturday night.

“The ball literally after three or four overs is starting to get a little bit softer – the seam isn’t as hard,” Cummins said.

“If there’s any swing, you’re not going to get it. I feel like those first three overs is the time to strike.”

Cummins plans to unleash his fiery bouncer to help knock over top orders in a tournament set to heavily favour batsmen.

“When the ball is hard you still feel like there might be a little bit of nip, but it’s pretty flat,” he said.

“With the brand new ball you still get a little bit of extra bounce or maybe a tiny bit of nip. Bouncers we’re going to have to use well – that’s a real wicket-taking ball.

“Other than that, it’s just trying to bowl good balls. I don’t think you’ll see too many teams running through other team with big outswingers constantly.”

With express pace shaping as the key without any seam movement, the Australians were happy to see Starc hit 150km/h with just his eighth delivery in the warm-up game against Sri Lanka on Monday.

The West Indies (421) and India (7-359) have also made statements, pounding big scores in their final warm-ups.

The tournament begins in London when England hosts South Africa tonight.

The Windies’ 91-run win against New Zealand was at Bristol, the venue for Australia and Afghanistan’s clash.

Langer said the lack of seam movement was an “unfortunate” by-product of white-ball cricket.

“It’s always nicer to see a balance between bat and ball, but what it does mean is if all our quicks are up and running, the bowling in the World Cup is going to be very, very important,” he said.

“Whilst the scores are high, the effectiveness of the bowling teams is going to be critical.”

India captain Virat Kohli said most teams would prefer to bat second.

“The seam and swing in the first 15 overs of the first innings will be the most crucial phase of matches at this World Cup,” he said.