After Monday’s resounding defeat by Sri Lanka took World Cup fate out of his side’s hands, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh asked for the luck of the Irish to kick in.
The following day, Ireland were due to take on Zimbabwe in Pallekele. Any points for the African side would knock Australia out of the competition.
Clearly, no-one told Marsh that when it comes to Irish luck in a cricketing context, rain is never far away. The two sides shared the points after wet weather saw the match abandoned without a ball bowled. Zimababwe through, Australia gone.
For the first time since 2009, there will not be an Australian side in the Super 8s stage or equivalent. Since winning it in 2021, this edition marks a third consecutive T20 World Cup without Australia in the semi-finals.
Less than a month on from wrapping up a resounding Ashes drubbing, Australia’s T20 side has failed to hit similar heights. The failings of this competition, which has seen them play all of their group games in Sri Lanka, alongside a wider slump in this format, does little to discard the notion that T20 cricket is not a priority.
As always after a difficult tournament, selection is questioned. Steve Smith has long been out of this side, not appearing in almost two years. A century and two 50s in the recent Big Bash were not enough to earn a recall. Not until Marsh was hit in the groin in training prior to Australia’s first game against Ireland.
Smith was summoned to acclimatise in Colombo in case he was required. He ultimately was, but not as a replacement for Marsh.
Australia’s Test run machine eventually earned a place in the squad proper when the selectors belatedly named a replacement for Josh Hazlewood, who was ruled out of the competition before a ball was bowled.
All those moving parts for a player who only made it onto the park as a sub fielder while Australia were still mathematically alive, with Smith powerless to stop Sri Lanka and Pathum Nissanka’s charge.The decision to drop Matthew Renshaw for that defeat also reads as confusing. His 37 off 33 balls against Ireland was slow, but the Ireland camp highlighted how impressed they were given the tricky nature of the pitch. Next time out, Renshaw’s 65 off 44 fell short of match-winning status against Zimbabwe.
Dropping him against Sri Lanka backfired. After Travis Head and Marsh’s opening partnership of 104 off 8.3 overs, Australia looked well set. They lost the next three wickets for 26 runs, the middle order appearing to lack the stability previously provided by Renshaw.
“The reaction back home has been rather heavy because I think we’ve been sold down the stream a little bit in terms of our selection and how we’ve gone about preparing for this T20 World Cup,” Australia’s two-time 50-over World Cup winner Matthew Hayden told Test Match Special.
“It sort of smacks of England, and their questions in the Ashes preparation – this kind of self-fulfilling prophecy of ‘we’re OK’ and ‘no, don’t worry’. It’s a mix of denial and maybe even just mismanagement.
“We enjoy coming to countries like Sri Lanka but we just haven’t prepared for what we’ve seen. We’ve picked power hitters in finesse type conditions.
“[It’s] almost like stubbornness but there is a plan A. And that plan A is called power. And it’s a day and age of power. In India, that’s certainly the case.
“These conditions [in Sri Lanka], though, are different. They’re not such pure batting surfaces, and that requires methodology. It almost requires a bit more of an old school approach and way of thinking about the game that allows you to stay in the contest.”
Australia’s fast-bowling depth behind the big three of Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc looks strong in red-ball cricket. Just ask England.
In white-ball cricket, though, it’s a different story. Starc has retired from the format while Cummins and Hazelwood are injured. It says plenty that, instead of calling up a bowler immediately once the latter went down, they waited until mid-tournament to call up Smith, a batter.
Word from within the camp refuses to dwell too much on muddled selection or lack of depth.
“Looking down our list, honestly, it feels like there’s more than enough talent to look after the situations in the games that we’re playing,” said Marsh after the Sri Lanka defeat.
“As much as we can talk about team line-up and who’s in, who’s out and that sort of thing, I think if everyone just looks after their role it should help [put] us in good stead.”
All-rounder Cameron Green, who became the Indian Premier League’s most expensive overseas signing when he was picked up for more than £2m by Kolkata Knight Riders in December, was criticised by Hayden having struggled to make an impact despite batting at number three.
“Cam Green has just looked awful with the bat,” said Hayden. “He looks woody, he looks tinny, he looks like he’s just a man with no confidence, and I’d be very surprised if that’s not exactly the case.
“Matt Renshaw has come with no baggage to this tournament. He actually had a really good series back home in Australia in the ODIs. He’s been a man that’s been very ill treated – there’s no doubt he should be in the Test team too.”
There is a wider question on Australia’s cultural attitudes towards T20.
While Big Bash crowds are healthy, this tournament has taken place at a difficult time for fans back home to watch. Only one Australian journalist has travelled to cover the team in Sri Lanka, reflecting how editors view the levels of public interest.
In that context, it seems easy to question to what extent this competition has been prioritised. Even if injuries ruled out players such as Cummins and Hazlewood, other senior players were told to prioritise the Big Bash finals instead of heading on the warm-up tour to Pakistan prior to this week’s failing.
“Cricket Australia needs to have a look at their schedule, and they need to be able to manage their number one and primary resource, which is cricket talent,” said Hayden.
“[They need to] find a way to just be a little more controlled, and a little more destined and built towards the purpose of Australian cricket.”
Before that, however, Australia have one match remaining in this competition, against Oman on Friday.
A dead rubber, the kind of match usually more associated with England in the Ashes.-BBC
