Monster Cup totals within reach: Smith

Steve Smith insists monster totals of 350-plus aren't out of reach for Australia's one-day team, provided they recognise when to up the ante through the middle overs.  

The reigning 50-over champions sit top of the World Cup standings, but skipper Aaron Finch has conceded his side are yet to hit their straps with the bat.

Australia have recorded scores of more than 300 three times, but England and India have been the standout batting units, posting four of five biggest totals of the tournament to date.

Those two sides are generally considered the teams to beat at this World Cup, but Smith is confident Australia can match their firepower.

"When you've got off to a good start and you've got wickets in the shed you've got to keep trying to take the game on," Smith said after scoring 73 off 59 balls to help Australia record their highest score of the tournament (7-334) in their win over Sri Lanka on Saturday.

"I think that's where you get your 350-plus (scores).

"If you sit back and let the game get away from you and try and do too much at the back end, some days it can come off and you can go at 12-plus an over at the back end, but there are a lot of special(ist death) bowlers who bowl at the back end and can be difficult to get away. 

"If you just keep that run rate going and playing with a positive mindset and slightly aggressive, with wickets in the shed, that's where you get your 350-pluses."

Coach Justin Langer has overseen a revival of Australia's 50-over fortunes after alarmingly poor results in recent years. 

Their success has been based on a more traditional style of one-day cricket where wickets in hand at the back-end of an innings are prioritised over unnecessary risks from key top-order batters.

It's a strategy that's constantly evolving, and the way in which Smith batted with Finch against Sri Lanka at The Oval showed they're prepared to up the tempo earlier than in previous eras of successful Australian ODI teams.

Just two wickets down at the halfway mark of their innings, Australia proceeded to score at nearly nine runs an over for the last 25 overs. 

That figure might have been even higher had Smith and Finch not been dismissed within five balls of each other, a mini-collapse for which Smith expressed regret.

At other times in the tournament, such an acceleration hasn't been possible. Smith had to weather an early barrage of hostile West Indian bowling in Australia's second game after they slumped to 4-38 inside eight overs to post a more sedate 73 off 103 balls. 

"We spoke after the game against West Indies, in one-day cricket you've got to really adapt to the conditions and sometimes you may need to play like a Test match and sometimes you may need to play like a T20," Smith explained.

"When your team gets off to a really good start and you've got 25 overs to go and you're only one (wicket) down, it becomes a T20 mindset and that's where you get your big totals.

"I've played a lot of T20 cricket and know the game. I know the situation a lot of the time, it's about summing it up and playing according to what needs to be done out in the middle."

2019 World Cup

Australia's squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

June 1: Australia beat Afghanistan by seven wickets

June 6: Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs

June 9: Australia lost to India by 36 runs

June 12: Australia beat Pakistan by 41 runs

June 15: Australia beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs

June 20: Australia v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge

June 25: England v Australia, Lord's

June 29: New Zealand v Australia, Lord's (D/N)

July 6: Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford (D/N)

July 9: Semi-Final 1, Old Trafford

July 11: Semi-Final 2, Edgbaston

July 14: Final, Lord's

Sync Australia's World Cup schedule to your calendar HERE

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE