Starc and Australia still searching for perfection but progress is undeniable | Geoff Lemon

Although victory against England was not flawless a dogged winning streak augurs well for World Cup knockout stage

“We still haven’t put the perfect game together,” Mitchell Starc told ABC radio just after Australia wrapped up a win against England and all but sealed a World Cup semi-final spot. It’s a common refrain in sport, the idea that even in success there remains something more to strive for. In theory it is what keeps athletes turning up at training day after day, year after year. Higher, faster, stronger, or the Daft Punk variation – take your pick.

Five wins in a row for Australia at this World Cup after losing the first two, and Starc is right to identify things to improve. Opening bowling was one thing that Australia did get better at in Ahmedabad on Saturday night. Middle-order batting is one that still needs work.

The middle order was what sank in a mire of dot balls in the losses to India and South Africa. The wins have relied on the openers scoring quickly up the top and Glenn Maxwell marshalling some assistance to do the same at the far end.

Against Sri Lanka, a modest chase was whacked on the head by Mitchell Marsh, then finished off by Maxwell’s 31 from 21 balls. Against Pakistan it was David Warner and Marsh’s stand of 259, followed by a subsidence after Maxwell didn’t come off. Against New Zealand, Warner and Travis Head made 175 from 19 overs, then came a run slump until Maxwell’s 41 from 24 revived it.

With Maxwell and Marsh out of the side facing England, the challenge sharpened. When Head and Warner both fell to Chris Woakes inside six overs, it started to break the skin. Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne had repair work to do, but like some tradies did it slowly. The run rate they inherited above six an over fell towards four, the pair treating with great suspicion a pitch that sometimes gripped the ball.

Both raised their tempo as time went on, Smith eventually making 44 and Labuschagne 71, the latter’s innings increasingly clever and an important contribution. With a critical eye though, you wonder whether their early approach needs a tweak, because players don’t always get the chance to catch up.

Labuschagne for instance has contributed 272 runs in his seven hits this World Cup, but at a strike rate of 79. Of players with more than 100 runs in this tournament, 46 have scored more quickly. The only one with more runs than him to score more slowly is the Afghanistan captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi.

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