Faulkner out to find World Cup form

Since joining an exclusive fraternity that includes Viv Richards, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting and MS Dhoni by earning player-of-the-match status in a World Cup Final, James Faulkner has found how quickly fortunes can turn.

In the 18 months since he was deemed so crucial to Australia’s one-day aspirations that he was named in their World Cup squad in the knowledge he would miss the first part of the tournament with a side strain – a move vindicated when he snared 3-36 in the decider against New Zealand – Faulkner’s influence as the one-day game's 'Finisher' has waned.

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Partly due to a late night indiscretion in Manchester that cost him matches in the UK last year, partly due to injury such as the hamstring strain that saw him pulled out of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy Series in NZ after one game last February, and partly because his numbers have become a little skinny.

In the 10 ODIs he’s played since that World Cup triumph at the MCG (less than half the total of one-day internationals Australia has contested in that time) Faulkner has scored 64 runs from seven innings (including four unbeaten) at an average of 21.33.

Significantly fewer than fellow allrounders Mitchell Marsh (573 at 47.75) and Glenn Maxwell (396 at 28.29) while the bowling returns tell a similar tale.

Marsh (22 wickets at 31.27) and Maxwell (11 at 39.45) have not only bettered Faulkner’s 10 at a hefty 47.50 apiece, they have made almost twice as many appearances as the Tasmanian’s 10 matches in a year and a half.

But due to varying concerns – Maxwell’s form, and Marsh’s fitness given the volume of international cricket in the coming eight months – Faulkner has been reinstated as the ODI squad’s premier allrounder for the five-match series against Sri Lanka that begins at Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium later today.

And quite possibly for the pair of T20 Internationals that immediately follow them.

The 26-year-old recognises the opportunity he has been afforded, and is looking to employ some of the modifications he has made to his game and to his person over a contrasting year or more.

"A little bit of everything," Faulkner revealed when asked what needed to change from the recent times with his latest setback coming when he was overlooked for the final of the ODI tri-series final against the West Indies in Barbados last June.

"A bit of opportunity, a bit of time to freshen up as well.

"I spent last month getting some strength back in my body so a little bit of a mixture of everything.

"A bit of variation in my bowling, and I’m trying to hit a few different areas with my batting – more so against spin.

"This series hasn’t started yet but we’ll see if it all pays off."

There was a feeling that Faulkner’s bowling variations – the 'back of the hand' balls he delivers almost exclusively in the latter overs of an innings – had become easier for opposition batters to pick, and therefore pick off.

And he has also been working on targeting different areas of the ground with his batting which, while earning him the reputation as one of the ODI game’s cleanest hitters and clearest thinkers given his proven capacity to ice daunting run chases, he’s had little opportunity to perfect given his under-utilised position in the lower-middle of Australia’s batting order.

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But he used training sessions at the Premadasa Stadium over recent days to perfect his new modes of attack, launching the spinners to different parts of the off-side outfield and spending as much time on his sweep shot as on his favoured slog-sweep over mid-wicket.

"I think all the players that have been successful on the subcontinent, they all sweep," said Faulkner who holds cherished memories of batting in Asian conditions after he scored 116 from just 73 balls in a match against India at Bangalore in a stellar 2013 ODI series.

"So I’m trying to change things and see what I can and can’t do.

"It obviously depends on the surface a lot as well, whether it’s spinning big or - if it’s a true surface - you probably won’t sweep as much.

"For (bowling) it’s about changing my pace and changing my lengths and making it hard to score depending on the dynamics of the ground.

"So we’ll see on the (circumstances) of the game as well."