The men’s T20 World Cup still doesn’t have a back-to-back winner after Australia’s limp title defence came to a merciful end on Saturday.
In truth, Australia was on the back foot from the very first over of its campaign and never fully recovered.
Now it’s time to sift through the rubble of Australia’s World Cup and see exactly where, and how, it all went so wrong just a year after it went so right.
Here, we look at the five issues that undid Australia.
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PREPARATION
With Australia on the brink of exiting the World Cup, Glenn Maxwell said it “doesn’t mean anything”.
“You can‘t dwell on it. I think you move on pretty quickly,” he said.
The optics of such a statement are bad. Defending a World Cup on home soil was hyped as one of the biggest opportunities in the white ball careers of this group.
How could they suddenly not care?
Maxwell’s statement was, however, more of a comment on the saturated cricket schedule and how its gruelling demands have worn players down.
Australia was still engaged in a bilateral series just a week before its first World Cup game, and it will be in another one just four days after the final is played.
Cricket truly does move at a breakneck speed, and no one knows that better than Australia.
The schedule had already cooked Australia before Mitchell Starc hit the crease at the SCG two weeks ago.
Between August 28 and the first match, Australia played three ODIs against Zimbabwe, three against New Zealand, three T20s in India, two T20s back home against West Indies, three more against England, and a warm-up T20 against India.
That’s 15 white ball games in a little over a month with Australia’s best T20 team playing in the vast majority of them.
And even with an early exit, there’s still hardly time for them to breathe.
This is not necessarily Australia shooting itself in the foot given, like all nations, it’s at the mercy of the ICC program and must play series within certain time frames.
But few teams have been busier than Australia since late August. Only Pakistan has played more matches (22) — and it’s worth noting that Babar Azam’s side is also expected to be eliminated in the group.
Needless to say, Australia’s preparation was far from ideal and prevented it from peaking when it needed to.
THE FIRST FOUR OVERS
In the space of 24 deliveries, Australia’s pre-tournament weariness was exposed, and the tone was set.
At no point during the group stage was it clearer that the Aussies were spent, and others were primed, than the first four overs against New Zealand at the SCG.
New Zealand was 0-56 after four overs having crunched Australia’s pace-on attack for 10 boundaries.
Aaron Finch went through four different bowlers but, to the delight of Finn Allen and Devon Conway, kept the pace on.
It proved to be a fatal mistake with New Zealand immediately taking the game away from Australia.
There was also an over-reliance on the plans drawn up pre-match. Glenn Maxwell was banned from bowling to Conway, a strong player of spin, and ended up not sending down a delivery all match.
Meanwhile, the Kiwis happily went along and posted 3-200, which remains the second-highest score of the entire tournament.
The Black Caps looked like a unit that was energised and executed its plan to perfection, while Australia looked like it had the wind knocked out of it.
It left Australia facing an uphill battle for the entire tournament.
THAT ENGLAND WASH OUT
Although Australia wasn’t good enough this World Cup, it should be noted that it was robbed of the one opportunity it had to fix everything.
If Australia had the chance to play England at the MCG, it could have won, eliminated its old rival, and we’d be talking about potentially have a back-to-back world champion.
Instead, the game was washed out, and England beat New Zealand, forcing Australia to overcome a net run rate mountain that proved too steep to climb (more on this later).
How that MCG blockbuster would’ve went, we will never know. Which is a shame because either way it would have provided better clarity on Australia’s overall performance.
Had Australia lost, at least it would know it simply didn’t deserve to progress. If it won, it’d equally deserve a crack in the semi finals as one of the world’s best T20 outfits.
Instead, we find ourselves here, delivering harsh truths for a team that actually had the same amount of points as both New Zealand and England.
Nonetheless, in a short competition and a group where only two of six nations progress, the risks are known, and Australia had already left itself exposed.
LACK OF RUTHLESSNESS
Australia knew it likely had to win its final two matches by big margins to wipe out its huge 89-run defeat to New Zealand and then some.
It was not a situation unfamiliar to Australia who was also dealt a heavy defeat in 2021, but progressed on net run rate after big wins against Bangladesh and the West Indies.
With Australia’s final two matches against Ireland and Afghanistan, replicating the comeback was considered a possibility.
Then it looked like it might be a reality after Australia posted 5-179 against Ireland before taking 5-25 inside four overs.
A 100-run win looked on the cards — until Australia took its foot off the gas and Ireland salvaged a respectable score.
Ireland went on to somehow make 137. It was still a big Australia win, but not nearly big enough.
That lack of ruthlessness was on display again against Afghanistan.
Australia looked primed to make a big total with the bat but only made 25 runs from the last four overs to be kept to 8-168.
Australia needed at least double that, like Afghanistan produced. Afghanistan took 51 runs off the last four overs to come within four runs of the Australian total.
Australia simply wasn’t ruthless enough and allowed both Ireland and Afghanistan to dominate too many overs.
Given England only just beat Sri Lanka in the end with two balls remaining, Australia might’ve gone through had it seen those jobs through.
SELECTION
In truth, Australia’s selections for the most part were spot on.
Dropping Steve Smith for Tim David to have a more explosive top-six was widely supported before the tournament. Some suddenly pointed to Smith’s omission as the answer for Australia’s slow start, but it’s hard to see how his inclusion would have stopped an 89-run loss to New Zealand, or chased down the Sri Lankan total in game two quicker than Marcus Stoinis did.
Finch’s spot was under threat but Cameron Green’s three runs off two balls in the final match was proof that replacing him mid-tournament was no clear-cut decision.
The only baffling selection call of the entire group stage came at the end when Kane Richardson was picked over Starc.
Richardson went for 12 runs-an-over, notably leaking 16 in the 18th over of Afghanistan’s chase.
It was ironic because Australia’s coaching staff later explained his selection as one based off of his death bowling.
Starc might’ve been expensive, too, but it feels like a risk that Australia simply had to take in the circumstances.
No Australian bowler has a better history of taking early wickets than Starc.
Australia knew it was likely going to have to roll Afghanistan for less than 100, but erred in focusing on economy and not wickets.
Damien Fleming called the decision “bewildering”, while fellow former World Cup-winner Michael Clarke was stunned.
“There’s absolutely no way you can leave him out of tonight’s game,” Clarke said.
“If anyone’s going to rip through Afghanistan’s batting it’s Mitchell Starc. Left-arm, if it swings with the new ball and then we’ve seen his yorkers at the death.
“I don’t get it.”
It seems like very few do.
