ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Michael Clarke Slams 'Un-Australian' Team After Group Stage Exit
Updated - 07 Nov 2022, 01:03 PM
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has criticized Aaron Finch’s team for playing a very “un-Australian” brand of cricket after the defending champions and tournament hosts Australia failed to make it past the quarterfinals of the T20 World Cup.
Australia finished with seven points in their group, but the hosts were most harmed by their defeats to New Zealand and to England, whose match was called off due to rain.
“I think Australians in general, on the biggest stage under the most amount of pressure, always put in on the line and have a crack. We’re not scared to lose. Yet we picked an aggressive 11 in this World Cup squad yet played so defensively. Very un-Australian,” Michael Clarke said on the radio show Big Sports Breakfast.
While England and New Zealand were also competing for a berth in the semifinals in the group, Australian hopes were dashed when the Australia-England match was cancelled due to rain. The hosts had lost their opening match to New Zealand by an 89-run margin.
The hosts needed to defeat Ireland and Afghanistan by big margins in order to boost their net run rate, but they were only able to do so by a score of 42 runs against Ireland and by a slim margin of four runs against Afghanistan.
“What frustrates me is that I believe they missed a trick against Ireland… and then against Afghanistan, I’m not sure what I was watching.” They seemed to be doing everything they could to defeat Afghanistan. I realize it’s impossible to wipe the floor with a team and maintain that mentality, but they had no choice.”
“They had to walk out against Afghanistan and say, ‘we’re going to make 200 and bowl you out for 100,’ but they simply didn’t have that aggressiveness, that fire in the belly, and even in the field they seemed a bit sluggish,” Michael Clarke said on the podcast.
Michael Clarke criticizes Australia for dropping Mitchell Starc:
Michael Clarke said it was a mistake for Australia to bench Mitchell Starc for the game against Afghanistan. He also believed that judgments made in the previous few months needed to be reviewed.
“I just think they got a number of things wrong … and leaving Mitchell Starc out of the team against Afghanistan was one of those things. They’ve got a lot to look at, it’s not just the players. I think some of the decisions made over the past few months leading up to the World Cup they need to look at,” said Michael Clarke.
Australia was forced to play catch up after their humiliating 89-run loss to New Zealand in the opening game, and their lackluster showings against Ireland and Afghanistan meant they concluded the group stage with a negative run rate. As a result, England overtook their Ashes rivals on Saturday.
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ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Michael Clarke Mitchell Starc
