[ad_1]
SYDNEY: Defending champions Australia were labeled “mediocre” on Sunday after failing to reach the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals, with local media calling for the exit to be “swift and brutal”.
Aaron Finch’s star-studded side entered the tournament confident of becoming the first rugby world champions, but it all went horribly wrong from day one.
A huge 89-run defeat against New Zealand first-up and a washout against England took three points from their tally, and then they failed to fire enough with the bat in their three wins.
They finished level on seven points with England and New Zealand in Group 1, but were eliminated due to a lower run rate.
It was only the fourth time in the last 30 years that Australia failed to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup in any format.
“Although it was close in the end, in truth the Aussies never really deserved to reach the semi-finals,” wrote The Australian newspaper, calling their defense “hambolous”.
“The consequences of the team’s lackluster efforts in a home World Cup must be swift and brutal to prevent it from ever happening again.
“Serious questions will have to be asked about the team’s current leadership and future direction because their performances have not been up to par.”
The Sydney Morning Herald said that regardless of whether England scraped past Sri Lanka on Saturday to oust the hosts, “there was little to recommend Australia as a semi-finalist”.
“Hattering wins over qualifiers Sri Lanka and Ireland and second-tier nation Afghanistan are hardly the foundation of a World Cup defence, especially when it was undermined by a horrendous defeat to New Zealand on the opening night,” it added.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph also piled on, saying their tournament “can be summed up in one word – mediocrity”, adding that “the brutal truth is they didn’t deserve a semi-final”.
Although the statistics were somewhat skewed because qualifiers played extra matches, no one from Australia set the tournament on fire.
Marcus Stoinis was their leading run-scorer with 126, but only 16th overall, while none of the bowlers took more than five wickets, with Josh Hazlewood (31st) and Adam Zampa (32nd) the best of the bunch.
All-rounder Glenn Maxwell admitted they were not good enough.
“We probably didn’t put together the complete game,” he said.
“There were a couple of games last year during the World Cup where we probably did, I think – Bangladesh, West Indies and Sri Lanka played the whole game, almost back-to-back.
“I don’t think we have any batsmen in the top five or six or 10 run-scorers,” he added.
“We probably didn’t get the higher wicket-takers either, it feels like we just chipped away at bits here and there.”
Aaron Finch’s star-studded side entered the tournament confident of becoming the first rugby world champions, but it all went horribly wrong from day one.
A huge 89-run defeat against New Zealand first-up and a washout against England took three points from their tally, and then they failed to fire enough with the bat in their three wins.
They finished level on seven points with England and New Zealand in Group 1, but were eliminated due to a lower run rate.
It was only the fourth time in the last 30 years that Australia failed to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup in any format.
“Although it was close in the end, in truth the Aussies never really deserved to reach the semi-finals,” wrote The Australian newspaper, calling their defense “hambolous”.
“The consequences of the team’s lackluster efforts in a home World Cup must be swift and brutal to prevent it from ever happening again.
“Serious questions will have to be asked about the team’s current leadership and future direction because their performances have not been up to par.”
The Sydney Morning Herald said that regardless of whether England scraped past Sri Lanka on Saturday to oust the hosts, “there was little to recommend Australia as a semi-finalist”.
“Hattering wins over qualifiers Sri Lanka and Ireland and second-tier nation Afghanistan are hardly the foundation of a World Cup defence, especially when it was undermined by a horrendous defeat to New Zealand on the opening night,” it added.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph also piled on, saying their tournament “can be summed up in one word – mediocrity”, adding that “the brutal truth is they didn’t deserve a semi-final”.
Although the statistics were somewhat skewed because qualifiers played extra matches, no one from Australia set the tournament on fire.
Marcus Stoinis was their leading run-scorer with 126, but only 16th overall, while none of the bowlers took more than five wickets, with Josh Hazlewood (31st) and Adam Zampa (32nd) the best of the bunch.
All-rounder Glenn Maxwell admitted they were not good enough.
“We probably didn’t put together the complete game,” he said.
“There were a couple of games last year during the World Cup where we probably did, I think – Bangladesh, West Indies and Sri Lanka played the whole game, almost back-to-back.
“I don’t think we have any batsmen in the top five or six or 10 run-scorers,” he added.
“We probably didn’t get the higher wicket-takers either, it feels like we just chipped away at bits here and there.”
[ad_2]
Source link
