Quick believes there’s a Starc contrast in ranking and ability

Australia’s slide from top to seventh in the Twenty20 rankings is misleading and irrelevant to the World Cup, fast bowling spearhead Mitchell Starc says.

Australia claimed the top ranking in the shortest format in May last year, for the first time.

But it heads into its looming World Cup campaign with six wins from its past 21 games in T20 cricket.

The streak features five consecutive series losses — against England, India, New Zealand, the West Indies and Bangladesh.

But Starc says the subsequent slip in rankings is explained by Australia rarely having its best squad available in that time.

‘‘It’s a huge positive that we have got our full-strength team here available to us for the World Cup,’’ Starc said.

‘‘Obviously we didn’t have that through the West Indies and Bangladesh.

‘‘We had some really young, inexperienced players and some young guys playing their first games of cricket for Australia come into some really foreign conditions and thrown in the deep end really quickly.

‘‘But now we have got our fullstrength team available . . . it’s up to us now.

‘‘We have set out to win the World Cup. We don’t want anything less.’’

Australia’s cup campaign in the United Arab Emirates opens against South Africa on October 23 with Starc adamant a disjointed preparation was no excuse for not performing at its peak.

‘‘We have had to navigate a few difficulties, being back home for the guys that have been in lockdown in Sydney or Melbourne or playing very little amount of cricket for their states,’’ he said.

‘‘Obviously we have had a few guys here in the IPL as well, so it’s a mixed bag of preparation for everyone — some have been playing some cricket, some have been trying to find ways to prepare for this tour.

‘‘I spent a fair bit of time with the Australian women’s team and (wife) Alyssa (Healy), so that was a good period of mental and physical preparation for me.

‘‘I am feeling good about it. We have all played enough cricket to know what we need to do to best prepare ourselves for these sorts of tournaments.’’

In six past editions of the cup, Australia has reached the final only once — a 2010 loss to England.

‘‘It’s no secret that we haven’t won a T20 World Cup, so I’m looking forward to hopefully being a part of our first one,’’ Starc said.

‘‘In terms of our make-up, the group feels like we have covered all bases that we need to for these conditions.’’