Simon Doull has criticised Australia quick Mitchell Starc for his choice of pre-match warm-up ahead of Australia’s final World Cup group stage match against Bangladesh.

The left-armer donned the wicketkeeping gloves to receive deliveries from several of Australia’s bowlers, including their fast men, a move which Doull felt was “fraught with danger”. Starc has been rested from the game, with Australia assured of a semi-final against South Africa, but Doull felt he had put himself at risk of an injury that could have ruled him out of the rest of the competition.

“I know he’s probably getting keeping lessons at home from Alyssa Healy,” Doull said on commentary. “He was actually wicketkeeping this morning to the quick bowlers, and I thought, ‘That is fraught with danger’. You’ve got a couple of games left in the World Cup, and you’ve got the gloves on wicketkeeping to the quicks. If you get one on the finger, I just didn’t think that was overly smart.”

Starc, a gloveman in his youth before becoming a fast bowler, is married to Healy, the Australia Women’s wicketkeeper. The leading wicket-taker at each of the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, Starc has not had the best outing this time around, taking 10 wickets at an average of 43.90, and going wicketless in a World Cup game for the first time in his career.

Bangladesh started well against Australia, putting up 161-2 at the halfway stage of their innings. While Australia have sewn up a top-four finish, and Bangladesh were the first team knocked out of contention, there is something riding on the game for both teams. For the Aussies, a big win could give them a second-placed finish, which would guarantee progress to the final in the case of a washout against South Africa. For Bangladesh, a top-eight finish would see them qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy. They are currently in eighth place, joint on points but ahead of Sri Lanka on net run rate.

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