Sign up now ><\/a><\/p>\nGilly: Australia can win without Smith | 03:29<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe, who failed to qualify for the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in 2024, have now won four of their ten most recent matches against Australia across formats, including their last ODI encounter in Townsville in 2022.<\/p>\n
Renshaw stressed that Zimbabwe should no longer be considered underdogs, especially in the game\u2019s shortest format.<\/p>\n
\u201cT20 cricket in general, people can have a day out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the gap\u2019s as big as everyone\u2019s saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a difference in the rankings, but in T20 cricket someone can have a great day out, someone can get a few early wickets and the game changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just the nature of T20 cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renshaw also brushed aside questions about Sri Lanka\u2019s foreign conditions, suggesting that Australia can\u2019t blame the pitch for their shock defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cSubcontinent teams come to Australia, and you don\u2019t get them complaining about the bounce or the pace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the way cricket is nowadays, you\u2019ve got to be able to go through different surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wickets in the Big Bash in Australia are quite true, you get a lot of bounce. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just trying to adjust to conditions as well as we can, so that when we get to these conditions, we know what the game plan is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Australia\u2019s decision to bowl first on Friday has come under the microscope, with former coach Darren Lehmann slamming the call on social media. Test legend Mark Waugh agreed it was a \u201cstrange decision\u201d from stand-in captain Travis Head.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we bat first in a day game under that heat on these wickets please,\u201d Lehmann tweeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
“So unlucky!” – Head dismissed cruelly | 00:25<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s T20 World Cup has been derailed by injury and poor form, while the ongoing refusal to add champion batter Steve Smith into the national squad has become a source of frustration for fans.<\/p>\n
Captain Mitchell Marsh missed the opening two matches against Ireland and Zimbabwe due to testicular bleeding, while all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is under a fresh injury cloud after damaging his hand during Friday\u2019s contest in Colombo.<\/p>\n
The big-hitting Tim David has not scored a run in any format this calendar year, having recently recovered by a hamstring complaint, while all-rounder Cameron Green has not reached fifty across his 13 most recent international innings. Wicketkeeper Josh Inglis, elevated to opener in Marsh\u2019s absence, also hasn\u2019t managed a half-century in any format since November.<\/p>\n
However, the most glaring concern for Australia is veteran Glenn Maxwell, who contributed a 32-ball 31 on Friday, the slowest innings of his 501-match T20 career (minimum 30 balls).<\/p>\n
The Victorian\u2019s most recent T20 scores are 1, 1, 1, 20*, 3, 9, 9* and 31. Despite his worrying Big Bash, the right-hander was rested for Australia\u2019s warm-up series against Pakistan, while he has averaged 131.00 with the ball across his 12 most recent T20s.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Australians, Maxwell\u2019s like-for-like replacement, West Australian young gun Cooper Connolly, is also struggling for runs at the moment, averaging 5.10 in T20s this calendar year. He was dropped for Australia\u2019s match against Zimbabwe after a forgettable performance during Wednesday\u2019s tournament opener.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Matthew Short\u2019s form was so worrisome, the national selectors axed him from the T20 World Cup squad on the eve of the tournament, replacing him with Renshaw, which has proven a masterstroke.<\/p>\n
However, George Bailey and the selection panel must be questioning whether their refusal to parachute Smith into the national squad was a grave mistake.<\/p>\n
Unlike almost every batter in Australia\u2019s T20 World Cup squad, Sydney Sixers opener Smith is fresh off some blistering Big Bash form, including a breathtaking century against the cross-town rival the Thunder at the SCG.<\/p>\n
The national selectors repeatedly declared there was no room for Smith in the T20 World Cup squad because Marsh and Head were occupying the opener slots, comments that came back to bite them when the captain sustained his freak groin injury.<\/p>\n
Nobody could have predicted Marsh\u2019s setback, but the national selectors only have themselves to blame for the lack of batting options in Sri Lanka, bravely deciding not to replace Hazlewood in the squad when the New South Welshman was ruled out of the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel we are well covered for the initial games so will make any later decisions based on priority need at the time,\u201d national selector <\/p>\n
Tony Dodemaide said at the time.<\/p>\n
With only 13 players at their disposal, Australia\u2019s top-order was forced into a last-minute reshuffle following Marsh\u2019s unexpected withdrawal, so by the time Smith was sent an emergency SOS, it was too late.<\/p>\n
Double ducks rock Australia early! | 00:31<\/p>\n
Speaking after Friday\u2019s defeat, stand-in captain Head acknowledged the Australians were in a similar position three years ago during the 2023 World Cup in India, when Pat Cummins\u2019 men lost the opening two matches of the group stage before lifting the trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few guys in that dressing room were here in India in 2023 that navigated through (the ODI World Cup) and we ended up on the right side of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ll go back to the blueprint of that, try to keep as much confidence in the dressing room as possible and we\u2019ve got two more games to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia will next face co-hosts Sri Lanka on Monday evening in a must-win contest at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. Anything less than a victory would end their T20 World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Renshaw has leapt to the defence of Australia\u2019s undermanned bowling attack following Friday\u2019s humbling T20 World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-478361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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