Bowled strategy: The numbers behind Australia's Cup tilt

With at least 10 T20 matches against the West Indies and Bangladesh remaining before this year's T20 World Cup, Australia need to settle on the men they hope can secure the one global title that has so far eluded them.

And according to the numbers, bowling has been the strongest aspect of Australia's T20 game over the past three years. The Aussies' economy rate, strike rate and bowling average are all second in the world only to Afghanistan, although it's worth noting that 18 of Afghanistan's 21 matches in this period were against Ireland, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

In March 2021, Australia had a difficult time with the ball against an in-form New Zealand but still managed to bowl the Kiwis out for 144 and 106 in the third and fourth games. In late 2020, the Aussies lost consecutive series to England and then India 2-1, but only conceded one score above 180. And in February 2020, they bowled out South Africa for fewer than 100 twice in three games.

Australia's superiority with the ball hasn't been down to just a select few players, with 22 bowlers used in T20 Internationals in the past three years, and 10 of those taking more than 10 wickets.

The two constants ­to the line-up have been Ashton Agar (25 matches) and Adam Zampa (28 matches), with the pair taking 56 wickets between them.

It marks a steep rise for the left-armer Agar, who played a solitary match for Australia at the 2016 T20 World Cup, going for 18 runs from his one over against New Zealand.

Five years on, he is ranked third on the ICC T20 bowler rankings and will be a key component of Justin Langer's plans for the 2021 edition.

Despite missing three T20s against India and the entire KFC BBL last summer due to calf and finger injuries, Agar returned to the side to face New Zealand and finished as Australia's leading wicket-taker for the five-match series with eight wickets.

Australia's other top-ranked bowlers in the format are Zampa (eighth) and Kane Richardson (12th).

Powerplay

T20 Internationals: Overs 1-6, BBL: Overs 1-4

Australia's Powerplay plans depend a lot on the availability of Mitchell Starc. Starc has played only 13 T20Is out of a possible 36 in the past three years, but when he's played he's taken the first over of the innings on every occasion. In those opening overs he's taken five wickets, which is the equal most in world cricket, alongside Kiwi quick Tim Southee.

And the Aussies have been happy to use most of his overs inside the Powerplay: 61 per cent of Starc's deliveries since June 2018 have been in the first six overs, 13 per cent in the middle overs and 26 per cent at the death.

Otherwise, there's been little consistency here for Australia, due to a range of factors including player unavailability and scheduling. Jhye and Kane Richardson have done the job at the top of the innings when they've played and in the past 12 months we've also seen Big Bash stars Riley Meredith and Daniel Sams with the new ball.

With the 2021 T20 World Cup to be held in the UAE, spin could be an option when the field is up, and Agar and Glenn Maxwell's respective records are tidy enough during the Powerplay.

And with the matches this month being played on a similar pitch in St Lucia, and potentially Bangladesh, Australia will likely have early opportunities to trial that tactic, with Agar predicting he'll get a chance with the new ball in the West Indies.

Note: In BBL|10, the Powerplay was reduced to four overs at the start of the innings with the remaining two, called the Power Surge, to be taken by the batting team at any point after the 10-over mark of the innings. The following numbers will just focus on the Powerplay.

The Perth Scorchers' run to the final of BBL|10 was certainly aided by the fact they had two quality and consistent Powerplay bowlers in Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff.

No bowler took more Powerplay wickets than Behrendorff's 10 while Richardson wasn't far behind with eight. Behrendorff returned in fine style after missing the entirety of BBL|09 due to a serious back injury and the Scorchers had a very specific way of using him. He bowled 60 per cent of his deliveries in the four-over Powerplay, 40 per cent of his deliveries in the middle overs, and no Power Surge overs.

Middle overs

T20 Internationals: Overs 7-15, BBL: Overs 5-15

In T20 Internationals, Australia's spin duo has proven most effective in the middle overs.

Zampa's 18 wickets in this period include the scalps of big names Virat Kohli (twice), Quinton de Kock, Martin Guptill and Dawid Malan, while Ashton Agar has taken two five-wicket hauls and a hat-trick.

Australia have been eager to deploy spin in this period and the numbers explain why; in addition to Agar and Zampa, leggie Mitch Swepson and even part-timers Glenn Maxwell and D'Arcy Short have produced impressive economy rates.

Swepson was called up to the Aussie squad in late 2020 to face India in three T20s and played alongside fellow leg-spinner Zampa. He showed he belonged too, taking five wickets including 3-23 off four overs in the final match.

The Queensland spinner told cricket.com.au recently he believes Australia can find a way to play three front-line spinners in the same XI, and the numbers tend to support his argument.

In the BBL, it was also the spinners who were the most productive in the middle overs.

Experienced trio Fawad Ahmed, Zampa and Steve O'Keefe all took 12 wickets between overs 5-15, which was bettered only by teenager leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha.

Sangha impressed so much in his maiden BBL campaign that he was rewarded with a spot on the Australian touring party to New Zealand in February and a plane ticket to the West Indies as a reserve player.

Paceman Wes Agar was used at all stages of the innings by the Adelaide Strikers but was most effective in the middle overs. His 12 middle-over wickets was the most by a fast bowler in the tournament and like Sangha, earned him a spot on Australia's current tour.

Death overs

Overs 16-20

With the most unenviable job in the team, Andrew Tye, Kane Richardson and Jhye Richardson have been the men Australia have relied upon most often to close out the innings.

However since the start of 2020, Tye has played only twice for Australia, bowling three overs at the death.

A serious elbow injury forced the experienced West Australian to miss all of BBL|09, but on the back of a superb BBL|10, in which he took 10 wickets and went at a touch over eight runs an over at the death, he is a strong chance to be included in Australia's T20 World Cup squad.

Australia would desperately love to have access to Pat Cummins' supreme control for this portion of the innings as he has proven his class despite the small sample size, with an economy rate of 6.36 from his 11 death overs.

No player bowled more death overs in the recent BBL than Hobart's Nathan Ellis, who sent down a whopping 160 balls (26.4 overs), which was 49.7 per cent of his total deliveries. Only Sams and Tye were more economical of the bowlers who delivered at least eight death overs.

Anyone else?

One name that continually comes up in Australia's white-ball discussions is New South Wales quick Josh Hazlewood, who is currently a part of Australia's touring squad in the West Indies.

Hazlewood was left out of Australia's 2019 50-over World Cup campaign as he recovered from injury and has since re-established himself a valuable member of that side.

But the 30-year-old has played only 10 T20 matches since the 2016 T20 World Cup, where he played two games including the loss to India, which knocked Australia out of the tournament.

Following a successful stint in the Sydney Sixers' BBL|09 campaign, Hazlewood has been given a chance to impress in two T20s for Australia, first in England and second against India at home.