ICC World Cup 2019 | Still Looking for That Complete Performance But We are Getting There: Starc

Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc was full of praise for fellow left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff, who picked up career-best figures of 5/44 in Australia's thrashing of England by 64 runs at Lord's.

The left-arm pace duo combined for nine wickets as England chasing 286 for a win were bundled for 221.

"He is done really great today. He bowled beautifully, started really well in that first over," Starc said on Behrendorff. "I guess we spoke about it as a group that left-arm would probably be a good match-up so to get us underway the way he did and bowl ten beautiful overs was fantastic for him and the group."

With the win, Australia also confirmed their place in the semi-final - the first team to do so - and are potentially just two wins away from defending their World Cup crown. However, Starc insisted that Australia were not getting too ahead of themselves.

They next play New Zealand at Lord's on Saturday (June 29) and Starc said currently he was just looking forward to that game.

"Two very important games us coming up. We play New Zealand, who are sort of going under the radar and are building nicely. They haven't lost a game and we know how good a side they are, especially in tournament play," Starc remarked.

"To play against them at Lord's will be a big match-up for us. We always speak about building upto to your best cricket towards the back end. Hopefully we are getting there, we are improving every game, which is fantastic especially after that Indian game. We are still looking for that complete performance but the group has got smiles on their faces we are building nicely."

The last time New Zealand faced Australia at the World Cup stage was in the 2015 final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where the Australians got the better of their neighbours quite comfortably. Starc wasn't sure what to take from that game as a lot has changed since but was sure there was no chance Australia were taking New Zealand lightly.

"I am not sure what you can take out of it. MCG and Lord's are very different, bigger ground, smaller ground, four years later...similar sort of teams I guess. Especially their side has seen not too many changes," quipped Starc.

"They are playing good cricket so we will have our chats through the week and look forward to that game as well."