- Pat Cummins believes Australia can win the World Cup
- He says the team can use their past glories to move on
- Australia faces South Africa in the semi-final on Thursday
Australia captain Pat Cummins is confident the five-time World Cup winners can use their experience of the major event to their advantage when they take on South Africa in Kolkata.
Cummins’ side are on a roll since losing to tournament hosts India and their opponents on Thursday, winning their last seven group stage matches to advance to another semi-final.
South Africa could have won in Lucknow and in an ODI series between the teams in September, but Australia have significantly more experience than the Proteas in the knockout stages of a major tournament.
Cummins, David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were part of the campaign to win the 2015 trophy as well as the T20 World Cup triumph two years ago.
The Australian captain said: “What helps us is we have a lot of guys who have been in this situation before and won the One-Day World Cup, the T20 World Cup and various other tournaments in big moments.
Pat Cummins has revealed why he thinks Australia can triumph at the Cricket World Cup
“You can draw inspiration from it in the middle of the competition. Obviously, you start from scratch every time you play. It’s a team we’ve played a lot with and know very well.
“But this week it will probably be very different from recounting the South African series we just played against them a few months ago.”
Australia memorably knocked out South Africa at the same stadium in 1999 at Edgbaston, where a draw went in favor of Steve Waugh’s side as they finished better in the group stage in terms of rate net running.
The final was one of the most replayed of all time as Allan Donald was chaotically bowled out, although South Africa still had two balls to get the solitary run they needed for victory.
Cummins said: “It’s kind of folklore, isn’t it? I’ve seen this replay loads of times, you hear the stories.
ODI captain believes Australia’s past glories can inspire them in India
Australia gradually gained confidence in India, emboldened by Maxwell’s rescue act against Afghanistan as his 201 not out secured a dramatic victory and was widely hailed as the best ODI knock of all time.
Marsh secured a seventh straight victory with an unbeaten 177 against Bangladesh, so Australia will head into their showdown at Eden Gardens with plenty of optimism.
Cummins added: “As a team you grow an extra leg because you feel like you can win a game from anywhere and having someone like Maxi on your team is just a complete luxury.” He’s a superstar, he’s a monster.
