McGrath stunned by missing yorkers

Glenn McGrath is bewildered by the lack of yorkers in one-day cricket.

The World Cup started with a predictable glut of runs as pundits point to bat sizes, ground sizes and fielding restrictions in explaining the trend of ballooning totals.

McGrath agreed the latter had a lot to answer for.

"You can only have four out. It means scores are going to be higher," said McGrath, the leading wicket-taker in World Cup history with 71 scalps.

However the metronome, whose accuracy with the white ball helped Australia win the one-day tournament in 1999, 2003 and 2007, feels there is more to it than that.

Six teams at the World Cup have already posted totals of at least 300.

Australia compiled an imposing total of 9-342 last Saturday, but only after England leaked 76 runs in the final six overs.

England butchered their death bowling, dropping it short and mucking up their lines as Glenn Maxwell and Brad Haddin scored easily and quickly.

McGrath felt it represented a trend around the world and called on more pacemen to opt for the tried-and-tested yorker during the tournament.

"It still comes down to execution," McGrath said.

"The final 10 overs - if you can bowl good yorkers at will and pretty much hit them, you're going to be successful.

"It seems that because people have brought the ramp in, bowling yorkers at the death is a dying art. Which just bewilders me.

"New shots have come in and things like that, but I feel like I could have combated that."

McGrath also questioned the need for a crackdown on sledging and on-field behaviour, saying for the most part umpires controlled the situation and players knew what they could get away with.

"If you replay an incident 27 times, it looks worse than it is," McGrath said.

"I've never thought sledging is a big issue.

"It's something that being Australian, you're very up front about. You don't try to hide it or go about it in sneaky ways.

"It's one thing other teams have always felt they could have a go at us about, because we did pretty well in all other areas."

Australian umpires discuss sledging

Australia’s World Cup Fixtures

February 14: beat England by 111 runs at the MCG

February 21: v Bangladesh, 1:30pm at the Gabba

February 28: v New Zealand, 2:00pm at Eden Park (NZ)

March 4: v Afghanistan, 2:30pm at the WACA

March 8: v Sri Lanka, 2:30pm at the SCG

March 13: v Scotland, 2:30pm at Blundstone Arena

View the full fixture list here