‘Not that hard’: Glaring issue for Aussies after WC capitulation as ‘strange decision’ called out

Matthew Renshaw has leapt to the defence of Australia’s undermanned bowling attack following Friday’s humbling T20 World Cup group-stage loss to Zimbabwe in Colombo.

Australia’s campaign is on thin ice after suffering a 23-run defeat to 11th-ranked Zimbabwe at R.Premadasa Stadium, bowled out for 146 following a disastrous top-order collapse. The 2021 champions never recovered after slipping to 4-29 in the fifth over, with Renshaw’s career-best 65 from 44 balls not enough to rescue the Australians.

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Earlier, Zimbabwe posted 2-169 from their 20 overs, with opener Brian Bennett hitting an unbeaten half-century. It marked the first time in men’s T20Is that Australia failed to take more than two wickets in a completed innings.

The Australians are missing fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood due to injury, while superstar speedster Mitchell Starc retired form T20Is last year. Fellow quicks Lance Morris, Spencer Johnson and Mahli Beardman are also out of action.

Queensland seamer Xavier Bartlett, the best new-ball bowler in Australia’s squad, was dropped for the Zimbabwe match after a disappointing performance against Ireland on Wednesday, replaced by left-armer Ben Dwarshuis. In Bartlett’s absence, Australia didn’t take a wicket until the eighth over, while Dwarshuis finished with figures of 0-40 from four overs.

Despite the growing pile of injury setbacks, Renshaw refused to cast blame on the bowling group, declaring the batters still should have chased down the 170-run target.

“The bowlers that are here are good enough,” he told reporters during the post-match press conference.

“You’ve seen them perform so many times in world cricket.

“Sometimes they just don’t get the wickets, the ball lands in a gap.

“I back our bowling group, we probably should have chased that down. I don’t think it’s the bowling group that should get the blame today.”

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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.

Renshaw stressed that Zimbabwe should no longer be considered underdogs, especially in the game’s shortest format.

“T20 cricket in general, people can have a day out,” he said.

“I don’t think the gap’s as big as everyone’s saying.

“There’s 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.

“That’s just the nature of T20 cricket.”

Renshaw also brushed aside questions about Sri Lanka’s foreign conditions, suggesting that Australia can’t blame the pitch for their shock defeat.

“Subcontinent teams come to Australia, and you don’t get them complaining about the bounce or the pace,” he said.

“It’s just the way cricket is nowadays, you’ve got to be able to go through different surfaces.

“The wickets in the Big Bash in Australia are quite true, you get a lot of bounce.

“It’s 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.”

Elsewhere, Australia’s 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 “strange decision” from stand-in captain Travis Head.

“Can we bat first in a day game under that heat on these wickets please,” Lehmann tweeted.

“Not that hard.”

Australia’s 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.

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’s contest in Colombo.

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’s absence, also hasn’t managed a half-century in any format since November.

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).

The Victorian’s 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’s warm-up series against Pakistan, while he has averaged 131.00 with the ball across his 12 most recent T20s.

Unfortunately for the Australians, Maxwell’s 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’s match against Zimbabwe after a forgettable performance during Wednesday’s tournament opener.

Elsewhere, Matthew Short’s 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.

However, George Bailey and the selection panel must be questioning whether their refusal to parachute Smith into the national squad was a grave mistake.

Unlike almost every batter in Australia’s 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.

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.

Nobody could have predicted Marsh’s 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.

“We feel we are well covered for the initial games so will make any later decisions based on priority need at the time,” national selector

Tony Dodemaide said at the time.

With only 13 players at their disposal, Australia’s top-order was forced into a last-minute reshuffle following Marsh’s unexpected withdrawal. The West Australian was injured in the nets on Sunday, yet Smith arrived in Sri Lanka on Sunday, five days later. The emergency SOS came too late.

“That’s the beauty of Smith’s batting; he’s pretty versatile and plays spin really well,” former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist told Fox Sports News on Friday.

“There might be a time during the tournament where they feel they need to inject him.

“The versatility of Steve Smith being there adds a nice insurance policy.”

He added: “He’s hitting the ball harder, getting it over the fence with more regularity.

“He’s proven in the Big Bash he can hit a lot of sixes, and he can go to that six-hitting option whenever he feels he needs to.”

Speaking after Friday’s 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’ men lost the opening two matches of the group stage before lifting the trophy.

“A 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,” he said.

“So we’ll go back to the blueprint of that, try to keep as much confidence in the dressing room as possible and we’ve got two more games to win.”

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.