Kane Richardson wants to be a well-rounded bowler

Kane Richardson admitted he was "over the moon" at receiving a call-up to the Australian squad for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019, a tournament that Australia coach Justin Langer is calling "the Olympics of cricket".

Four years ago, Richardson, the pace bowler, was on the fringes of selection, but missed the cut for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand. He was set to watch from the sidelines at this year's event in England and Wales too, before an injury to Jhye Richardson left a spot open.

Kane was sympathetic to Jhye's misfortune, but admitted that he was delighted at the chance to live out a "childhood dream". "I remember four years ago missing out on at that 2015 team," he told reporters on Wednesday, 8 May. "I was 24 then and I thought at the next one I'll be 28, so that's probably my shot.

"I still wasn't thinking about it a month ago. But to get the call yesterday that struck me the most. I remember watching the World Cup in England in 1999, that was the one I went to video store and rented the VHS and watched that back! It kind of hit me then that these things don't come around.

"It's the Olympics of cricket, is what JL (Justin Langer) has been calling it."

Richardson, who has 29 wickets from 20 one-day internationals, expects to play a role with death bowling, as he did in the recent series win against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. "In the UAE, I think that is what JL was happy with, those two games I played and bowled right at the end in crunch time," he said.

"I think that's my strength, but I want to be well-rounded bowler who can bowl at any stage of the innings. If I'm to play a role at the World Cup I've got to be able to do that as well."

A disappointed Jhye, meanwhile, was keen to turn his focus on being ready to stake a claim for the Ashes. "To be brutally honest it hasn't been that easy to accept; World Cups don't come around every day," he said after his dislocated shoulder ruled him out.

"It helps a lot knowing there's something just as big (the Ashes) around the corner. To have that to aim for puts a lot of clarity in my mind that playing for Australia is what I want to do."