Australia has made a shock exit from the T20 World Cup after failing to qualify for the second group stage.
It comes after only managing one win against Ireland in the initial group stage, losing to both Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka to cement their position outside the Super 8.
Australia have one last chance to leave the tour on a win, facing Oman tomorrow evening.
SportFM spoke to former Australian and Victorian leg spinner, Bryce McGain, this morning.
“I really feel for the players a bit here. There’s a lot of guys there who are really proud Australians who love representing the country and I guess that’s where I go to as a former player… they want to do well but they just haven’t found their best form,” he said.
“It’s an underperformance by Australia and questions will be asked. They’ll delve in, you know, why not Steve Smith? Why didn’t we put him in the middle order? In hindsight, you can say they saw him as a direct replacement at the top of the order and trusted their guys in the middle and it frankly just hasn’t worked.”
“I’m sure once they arrive back home, Andrew McDonald will face the music.”
Questions are being begged regarding the selection over the tour, with Matt Renshaw being dropped for Cooper Connolly after scoring a half century in Australia’s loss against Zimbabwe
“I think they need to wear the criticism. We can’t certainly criticise that, where you take out a form piece that’s actually working to try a moneyball approach.”
“That’s the decision they made and it ends up not working. You’ve got to wear that, that’s what selectors do, they make those calls.”
Furthermore, people are asking if the poor performance warrants an independent branch of Australian cricket solely dedicated to leading the T20 side.
“I’ve been an advocate for a long time for having a separate unit that looks after the T20 side of things and allowing a focus from a head coach’s perspective, it’s a lot to cover,” said McGain.
“It probably does open an opportunity to look to do that, to look for an individual coach that actually has them in these blocks and prepares them for the T20 World Cup and the Olympics. There’s now a medal up for grabs, but you’ve got to be in the top group for it, and this is where Australia has shown they’re not there.”
Regardless of Australia’s disappointing early exit, the former spinner said he was pleased with the direction world cricket is heading off the back of this World Cup.
The India and Netherlands match last night was one that added to this sentiment, demonstrating how the evolution of cricket in new countries is happening at a rapid pace and will soon be at the level of dominant countries where cricket is their primary sport.
“The gap is closing. What I mean by that is India have everything. They have the most dynamic power-hitting team. They have players that you can just watch and be gobsmacked at how good they are. Now, that’s built on the back of the IPL for 15-plus years and they are all produced out of this.”
“This is a generational group that have come through and grown up from three years old knowing that T20 is their pathway, knowing that playing for the Chennai Super Kings or whoever it might be in the T20 and IPL, that’s their goal and then they go and represent India at the top. This is this group and this team is amazing but the Netherlands only lost by 17 runs and challenged them all the way.”
“This is how we need to grow cricket and the associations being involved are showing this, the Netherlands are showing terrific growth. They’ve got young players in that middle order, they just don’t have power hitting and that comes from being exposed to T20 a lot more.
“It really uplifted me that world cricket, T20 cricket to the Olympics in a few years time is in a really positive space. There’s a lot to love about what’s happening in world cricket right now.
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