NewsMarsh – Pallekele: Two defeats in three outings have left Australia staring at the exit door of this T20 World Cup. Sunday’s eight-wicket reverse to co-hosts Sri Lanka, hot on the heels of Friday’s upset by Zimbabwe, means the 2021 champions now need favours from others and an emphatic win of their own to scrape into the Super Eights.
The maths is brutal. Zimbabwe must lose to both Ireland and Sri Lanka, and even then Australia have to flatten Oman hard enough to leapfrog Zimbabwe on net run-rate – currently far healthier than the one worn by the men in yellow.
“It’s a pretty shattered group,” captain-in-waiting Mitchell Marsh admitted in the small hours after the loss. “It’s a devastated bunch and we’re in the lap of the gods now. There’s a lot of emotion in the changing rooms right now. We haven’t been at our best.”
The side certainly started like world-beaters, thumping 97 without loss inside eight overs. From there, though, 10 wickets fell for 85 runs in 72 balls; the run-rate slid from a muscular 12-plus to a modest seven an over. Marsh accepted that was the decisive passage.
“It was probably execution that let us down tonight,” he said. “That full-strength batting line-up has some of the best players of spin in Australia. I thought Sri Lanka pulled it back beautifully, and we ended up a few short after the start we got. We probably needed those runs going into the second innings. I had great belief we would get the job done, but we were outplayed.”
“I guess we’ll never know what would have happened if we made 220, but as I said earlier, we had a good platform and we just couldn’t execute at the back end. I know that in these conditions partnerships are incredibly important. Outside the opening partnership, we just weren’t able to find another one to get the innings going again.”
Ashton Agar, sidelined with a calf strain but part of the squad, summed up feelings around the camp earlier in the day: “It’s an absolute shock.” The comment landed heavily among supporters bewildered by a team that arrived touted – modestly, but still touted – as semi-final material.
Selection chatter has hardly helped. Australia waited until Sunday night to confirm a replacement for Josh Hazlewood, who flew home with an ankle injury after the Zimbabwe defeat. The delay, intended to keep options open between an extra quick (Sean Abbott) or a specialist batter (Steven Smith), looked shrewd in theory; in practice it fed the narrative of a squad unsure of its best XI. Smith was eventually drafted in, though Marsh – back from a groin niggle – reclaimed his place and Smith carried drinks against Sri Lanka.
Marsh rejected the idea the Hazlewood question had distracted the group. “If you look back over the last two years at the white-ball squads, we’ve had moving parts every tour and every game. That’s something you’re sort of forced into at times. We were just outplayed tonight and that’s disappointing.”
Attention now shifts to Bulawayo, where Zimbabwe face Ireland on Monday evening. Australia’s players – drained, chastened and, by their own admission, desperate – will be tuning in.
“I dare say we’ll all be watching the match tomorrow (Zimbabwe vs Ireland). Whether it’s all together or not we’ll wait and see,” Marsh chuckled, half-defeated, half-hopeful. “What do you say? The luck of the Irish?”
Should Ireland oblige, the equation rolls on to Tuesday’s Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe clash, then to Australia’s own meeting with Oman at Kandy on Wednesday. A thumping victory – think 50-plus runs or a chase inside 12 overs – will be required. Such margins are rare at this level, but not impossible, and the camp has pinned its mood to that sliver of possibility.
For now, though, a proud cricket nation finds itself effectively spectators, counting decimals and wishing on other people’s mistakes. Professional sport can be unforgiving; Australia’s cricketers know that better than most today.
