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A tough World Twenty20 campaign just became a whole lot harder for Australia with their tournament future hinging on a victory over Sri Lanka on Monday.
Having lost star all-rounder Andrew Symonds to probably his last disciplinary lapse, Ricky Ponting’s men could ill afford their thumping seven-wicket defeat at the hands of a rampant West Indies in their first match.
“It all lies ahead of us,” Ponting said.
“We know exactly what we have to do and if we’re good enough, we’ll get it done.”
A win may not even be enough to save the Australians in the group of death.
If Sri Lanka lose to Australia but beat the West Indies on Wednesday, the two teams who progress to the Super Eight stage will be decided on net run rate.
In that scenario, the West Indies’ emphatic victory with 4.1 overs to spare – thanks to a brutal 88 off 50 balls from captain Chris Gayle and 53 from Andre Fletcher – could prove particularly damaging for Australia.
Opening batsman David Warner provided a glimmer of hope for Australia after securing his place in the team in Symonds’ absence and top-scoring with 63 off 53 balls, steadying the innings after his team collapsed to 3-15.
Warner had only played one of Australia’s two practice matches, featuring in the win over New Zealand with Symonds at No.5.
The previous day, Australia had opened with Shane Watson and Brad Haddin with Symonds at No.4, and Ponting revealed he may have used a similar line-up had Symonds not been sent home over drinking and behavioural issues on Thursday.
“We were looking at doing some slightly different things with our team in this game if Symo had been in the middle order there but he wasn’t, so it’s good for Dave to get that chance up the top of the order,” Ponting said.
“Warner at the top I thought was terrific for us today.
“He probably played a slightly different role than he has in the past as well because we lost a couple of early wickets.
“That was a good sign for him that he’s got some maturity and a good head on his shoulders as well in this form of the game.”
The 22-year-old left-hander shared a 66-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Haddin, who contributed 24.
Mike and David Hussey (27) put on a sixth-wicket stand of 30 and the former was unbeaten on 28 at the close.
But their performances paled against the might of Gayle, who smashed six sixes, including three off one over by Brett Lee.
Australia have lost their last four Twenty20 internationals and won just half of the 22 they’ve played.
They suffered a shock defeat to Zimbabwe in their opening match of the 2007 Twenty20 world championship and went on to reach the semi-finals, where they lost to eventual champions India.
“This form of the game can change very quickly,” Ponting said.
“We’re in exactly the same position as we were last time.
“I guess some of the guys that were in the tournament last time will know that, that will be in the back of their minds, and we have to do that, there’s nowhere else where we can go now.”
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