Cricket Australia to review into unsuccessful T20 World Cup 2016 campaign
Cricket Australia to review into unsuccessful T20 World Cup 2016 campaign
After a not so successful T20 World Cup 2016 campaign Cricket Australia has decided to launch a review into it, although former wicket-keeper batsman Brad Haddin does not believe the country needs to change its approach to the game’s shortest format. Australia, who are ranked No.1 in Tests and ODI’s, were out in the Super 10 stage of the T20 World Cup that took place in India. They lost to India in their last T20 fixture in the same series and were out of the semi-final contention. The team has never won the World T20 and their best efforts were when they came runners-up in 2012. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians , 5th T20 Match, IPL 2016
Haddin feels that the team has good players for the T20 format but they haven’t quite turned up for big tournaments. But they will certainly need to step up when Australia host the T20 World Cup in 2020. Australia had the likes of Shane Watson who retired from international cricket, along with David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner in their side who have done quite well in the IPL but couldn’t get going for Australia. “I think we’ve got it right,” Haddin said of Australia’s priorities. Cricket Australia have an aim to become the number one side in all formats of the game, although T20 is considered a bit less important. “Look at how successful the Big Bash has been. We’re doing some really good things in T20, we’ve got some of the best T20 players in the IPL. At the moment we haven’t quite clicked in tournaments, it’s a bit of a balancing act to make sure we do prioritise Test cricket and cherish every moment of that,” said Haddin. IPL 2016 Schedule, Time Table, Fixture PDF Download
Cricket Australia’s head of cricket, Pat Howard said the national T20 team needed to improve in more ways than one as it won’t be easy when Australia play the T20 World Cup 2020 at home with the expectations of the fans behind them. Their preparations prior to it will be key according to him. “Players are currently playing a lot of world class T20 cricket in domestic competitions around the world,” Howard said. “We will review all aspects of our preparation and performance because we genuinely believed we had a team that could win. The World T20 in Australia in four years’ time will be in different conditions and we also know that the tactics of the game will evolve, but our preparation for that tournament will be progressed over the next two years, as it was for the World Cup in 2015,” – he said.
Meanwhile, Haddin who was also a former vice-captain of the team believes that playing for the country still continues to be the top priority for cricketers. “We still find playing for Australia is the No.1 honor. I don’t think that should change,” he said.