Opinion
A brilliant unbeaten 77 from Mitchell Marsh was enough to drive Australia to T20 World Cup glory in the UAE at the end of last year.
For all our cricketing might, it was our maiden World Cup victory in the shortest form of the game sealed by a stellar innings from arguably the most maligned Australian player of the past decade.
This Saturday the re-match of the final takes place, this time on the other side of the world. The hallowed, historic Sydney Cricket Ground plays host to the fifth and sixth-ranked T20 teams to kick off Australia’s title defence.
Such an occasion begs the question: do we have the capabilities to conquer the world once more?
As the ICC T20 rankings will tell you, India and England are the two best T20 sides in world cricket. It’s a claim that’s hard to argue.
On Monday, India, powered by half-centuries from KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav supported by cameos from powerhouses Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, dispatched the defending champions by six runs. Earlier in the month England twice claimed the scalp of the host nation in a warm-up tournament, earning victory by eight runs in both affairs.
Not convincing wins but wins regardless.
It’s not pretty reading for Australians. Both India and England appear to have stronger, more in-form squads in the shorter format of the game. Even South Africa stormed to 227 recently.
Superficially it seems Australia just do not have the firepower consistently available to compete. Aaron Finch, despite his recent 76 in that loss to India, has been a shadow of his once destructive and dominant self for many years now. The Australian’s last ten matches in the format have seen him average 23.9 with the bat.
His opening partner, David Warner, possibly Australia’s finest ever 20-over batsman, a man who in his pomp was capable of making the extraordinary – switch hit sixes et cetera – ordinary. But even he seems fallible.
(Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Assessing the rest of the batting order, Steve Smith will come in at No. 3. He’s a generational talent with the willow and arguably the greatest batsman not only that Australia has ever produced but also that the world has ever seen. Yet the 20-over game has never been his forte, so much so that George Bailey has all but confirmed he will vacate his place in the side for Tim David, who scored 40 against England the other week and is a fine T20 specialist, if unproven on the high-pressure international stage.
The rest of the batting line-up – Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, and Josh Inglis – are all exceptional players. Marsh – whose bowling may be limited in the early stages due to an ankle – is a powerful hitter and the man who quite literally brought the trophy home last year.
Matthew Wade is scintillating on his day. He and Stoinis – who himself possesses as many astonishingly brilliant T20 innings as any other player on the planet – were crucial in dragging Australia out of the semi-final mud against Pakistan last year.
And then there is Glenn Maxwell. Any superlative you can muster to describe this man has undoubtedly already been used. A wrecking ball and Rolls Royce rolled into one cricketer. He’s not nicknamed the Big Show for nothing. On his day he has the potential to blow the opposition away and salvage matches for Australia when all hope evaporates. But he has failed to break 30 in his last ten matches.
Australia may not possess the most consistently in-form players in cricket’s shortest format.
But what we do possess is nine players capable of being the best short-form batsman in the world on any given night. One or more of the selected group tasked with slicing the willow this summer in the pursuit of back-to-back World Cup glory can break a game over within a single over or innings. It’s just about unlocking those performances.
Even from the most desperate and desolate positions Australia can still never be ruled out. Four down with 67 and chasing 184? Not a problem if Stoinis and Maxwell enter the crease. Desperation has the potential to produce greatness, not least because when the shackles of pressure release themselves, players are able to go about their business naturally and without fear of failure, and that seemed assured before they crossed the boundary ropes.
Defending a title is hard in any sport. Football’s World Cup is famous for a curse placed on each of its winners – few make it out of the group stage in the tournament that follows their success; see Spain in 2014, France in 2002 and Germany in 2018. In fact no team has ever won the T20 World Cup in consecutive tournaments.
History is against Australia. However, with the gust of a nation’s support – and criticism – blowing in their sails onwards, as it did for Australia II in 1983, anything is possible.
Questions may circle about the form and consistency of some of Australia’s team when compared to challengers from around the world, but what cannot and will never be doubted is the willingness and effort to deliver glory for themselves and their country.
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