McDonald: "We were behind it from the first game."

Australia are out of the World T20 after England defeated Sri Lanka to lock the host country out of the semi-finals.

The Aussies needed Sri Lanka to defeat England in the final pool game in group one to remain in the top two to make the final four teams in the competition.

Reflecting on the tournament Australian coach Andrew McDonald told reporters it wasn't the plan to be heading home so soon.

“Any time things are taken out of your control, you’re left feeling a little lump around it, we (hung) on to Sri Lanka potentially doing the job against England and they did a pretty good job of it,”

“(We) suffered a slow start to the tournament and couldn’t really, I suppose, grapple that back." McDonald said.

“Compound that with a washout against England who we would be vying with for a top-two spot, we just got behind it from the first game.”

McDonald also explained the decision to leave Mitchell Starc out of the side against Afghanistan in favour of Kane Richardson.

"We were looking to reinforce the back end with Kane Richardson, so we put a premium on death bowling – that was the decision in a nutshell really,"

"The reality is we've got 15 players that arguably could be in the eleven, and those that miss out are going to be genuinely stiff."

Australia's next assignment is a three match one-day series against England starting on November 17.

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