didn\u2019t arrive in the subcontinent in time for the crucial group-stage match against Zimbabwe<\/a>, when Australia collapsed to 4-29 before suffering a shock 23-run defeat, ultimately leading to their premature elimination. <\/p>\n\u201cWe see him primarily as at the top and that\u2019s where he\u2019s come into the squad as cover for that area,\u201d Dodemaide said of Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was only really available for game three, which was the game that we had our best performed pairing, which is (Marsh) and Head, who did extremely well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we got more moving parts and we had to think of things differently, then that\u2019s a different story, but certainly now Steve still retains his place as cover for that opening position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew Renshaw, currently Australia\u2019s leading run-scorer for the tournament, was dropped for Monday\u2019s must-win match against Sri Lanka in Kandy despite top-scoring during the Zimbabwe defeat, making way for Marsh\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
The under-pressure Cameron Green, who hasn\u2019t notched a half-century in any format since November, kept his spot at No. 3 for the Sri Lanka contest ahead of Smith and Renshaw, stumped for 3 (7) to spark a dreadful collapse of 9-71.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreen has just looked awful with the bat,\u201d Hayden continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looks woody, he looks tinny, he looks like he\u2019s just a man with no confidence, and I\u2019d be very surprised if that\u2019s not exactly the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatt Renshaw has come with no baggage to this tournament. He actually had a really good series back home in Australia in the ODIs. He\u2019s been a man that\u2019s been very ill treated – there\u2019s no doubt he should be in the Test team too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dodemaide leapt to Green\u2019s defence, acknowledging the West Australian all-rounder showed promising signs against Pakistan and had an exceptional record in T20Is last year, averaging 43.00 with a strike rate of 168.62 across eight matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis record has been very, very good for us in 2025, and pre-tournament in Pakistan (where) he was our best batter,\u201d Dodemaide said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCam\u2019s still developing his game across all formats and that needs to be balanced with what he can do physically.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very fine player who is important for us in all formats, but in terms of nuancing his commitments from time-to-time we\u2019ll look at that in more depth as part of the wider review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilly on Smiths spot in AUS T20 WC? | 07:30<\/p>\n
Dodemaide also confessed that injury setbacks compromised the team\u2019s T20 World Cup quest, with the short turnaround following the home summer creating plenty of headaches for the national selectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose injury concerns are something that do arise and can arise quite late,\u201d Dodemaide said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you do get injury concerns that compromise your squad, like as a result of series in the meantime, whether it\u2019s the Ashes, whether it\u2019s BBL, then that does present some challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
The absence of Hazlewood and fellow paceman Pat Cummins was sorely felt as Australia mustered only four wickets across 38 overs against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, with the team\u2019s second-tier bowling attack failing to step up to the task. The superstar duo is expected to still be available for the upcoming Indian Premier League campaign, which Dodemaide attributed to unfortunate timing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is what it is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a timing issue. If it was in reverse, the IPL was first and the World Cup was second, then they\u2019d be missing the IPL to play in the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be frustrating for us at all. We know their commitment to want to play and succeed for Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia will co-host the next edition of the T20 World Cup alongside New Zealand in late 2028, giving the national white-ball team more than two years to rebuild.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to win every World Cup, no matter where it is,\u201d Dodemaide said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, the next one is at home. We\u2019d love to do well at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a commitment within 48 hours or so against Oman and we want to finish off really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will do the requisite planning to look at 2028; we\u2019ve got the 2027 50-over World Cup in the meantime. All these things will be mapped out when we get time and space, and we can cut out the emotion of it and look at it more forensically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia will next face Oman at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, with the first ball scheduled for 12.30am AEDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National selector Tony Dodemaide has reiterated that champion batter Steve Smith was only considered an injury replacement for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-488862","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\/488862","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=488862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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