T20 World Cup: Australian cricket legend Mark Waugh has taken aim at the selectors for not selecting batting veteran Steve Smith in the initial squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, calling it "the most baffling non-selection" and an insult to the senior batter.
A couple of days after being stunned by Zimbabwe in the Group B clash, the 2021 champions suffered another upset loss at the hands of co-host SriLanka, who put up a clinical display to progress to the Super Eight stage of the tournament, leaving Australia's fate out of their hands, having surrendered twice in as many games now.
After leaving Smith out of the squad entirely originally, Australia have pulled the trigger on adding Smith to their squad hours before their crunch match with Sri Lanka, but he was ultimately left out of the playing XI.
"I think that the whole campaign was doomed from the get-go with selection issues and injuries. I think preparation hasn't been great. It’s all unfolded probably the way I thought it would, even though we’re in a pretty weak group," Waugh told SENQ Breakfast.
"I know you can't please everybody, and sometimes there are tough calls that can go either way, but to me, the non-selection of Steve Smith in the squad originally is the most baffling non-selection I can remember for ages. I mean, here you've got a guy who has looked a class above everybody in the BBL.
“He's an outstanding fieldsman. He's a great player of spin. He should have been first picked, and he wasn't picked in the squad… then he wasn't even picked as a replacement, and then they've got him over there, and they still haven't played him," he added.
Waugh was also baffled that Matt Renshaw was left out after his scores of 37 and 65 in Australia’s first two games. "Then you've got Matt Renshaw, who looks like he's one of the few players in form, and he's left out of the big game last night. T20 cricket is the hardest format to find form in. You need to pick players who are in form, because the batsman doesn't get time to build his confidence," he said.
"Look at the selections. Look at Maxwell, Connolly, Green and Inglis; these guys are all out of form. Maxwell and Connolly have not made a run for three months between them. The selectors have their plans in place, but you've got to be smart enough to see which players are in form and which players are out of form, and you've got to play the percentages a lot better than what our selectors have played at the moment.
Waugh was also baffled that Matt Renshaw was left out after his scores of 37 and 65 in Australia’s first two games. "Then you've got Matt Renshaw, who looks like he's one of the few players in form, and he's left out of the big game last night. T20 cricket is the hardest format to find form in. You need to pick players who are in form, because the batsman doesn't get time to build his confidence," he said.
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After their eight-wicket loss to Sri Lanka, the Aussies are now on the brink of an unthinkable reality of not progressing. They will now be praying that Ireland can beat Zimbabwe to keep their slim chances of progressing alive. And if that eventuates, there is still a lot of work to do, starting with needing a strong, NRR-boosting win over Oman and hoping Sri Lanka beats Zimbabwe well. Then it would come down to NRR.