Australia took 79 out of 80 wickets at this World Cup. Twenty-two of those went to Mitchell Starc, who is now arguably the most destructive bowler in limited-overs cricket.
On Sunday, he dismissed Brendon McCullum for a duck, from where New Zealand's downfall began. Starc revealed that he and the bowling coach, Craig McDermott, had devised a plan against McCullum after the defeat in Auckland.
“After that game in New Zealand, we had to assess him as he went because he's very unpredictable. It was a bit of a planning game with Craig about just bowling a yorker to him first up. I'm not sure how that first one missed, but I'm lucky the third one hit.”
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It was nice to see ball dominate bat, Starc felt. “We’ve worked really hard at our bowling, not only in the World Cup but leading up to it, and to see it come off is fantastic. Mitch Marsh took five in the first game and missed out on the back end of the series. To watch Jimmy (Faulkner) take three in the semi and in the final was fantastic. The whole bowling unit itself was awesome,” he said.
Faulkner was Australia's most effective weapon with the ball in the final. His slower ball was particularly useful, getting rid of Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott.
“I purely use it just as a change of pace so that the batters don't get set,” Faulkner said. “I bowl in the Powerplay overs and in the death. So if you're bowling the same ball there's more chance of you getting hit out of the park. The change-up I use to take wickets and also to change a batter's swing when they're trying to hit me to all parts of the ground. Sometimes it doesn't come out as good as what I want to, but tonight it
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was okay. I only used it half a dozen times, but in the end it worked out well for us.”
Faulkner's very presence at the World Cup was a doubt after he suffered an injury in the final of the triangular series. It has been some journey.
“At the time, I thought I was in big trouble. The first three, four, five days were quite tough, but the support staff were amazing. I'm very grateful for the opportunity I've been given by the selectors and by the senior members. They could have easily wiped me out of the tournament.”
Instead, it was Faulkner who wiped out New Zealand.