Australia recede into the tournament in India knowing that one final – which they lost to England – in five attempts is a poor return for a team with their qualityBy SB Tang for A Straight Bat,section of the Guardian Sport NetworkThe World Twenty20 is the only major trophy the Australia cricket team is eligible for that they haven’t won. As one Sheffield Shield cricketer cheerfully put it to me recently: “Australia haven’t won one yet, so it’s approximately time the boys stand up and get the trophy.” He wasn’t having a recede at his mates in the team; he was merely articulating an entirely fair opinion here in Australia: with the talent and resources we have at our disposal, and Australia really should have won a World T20 by now and that incorrect ought to be rectified as soon as possible.
In 2007,an underdone Australia one-day team, fresh off a well deserved four-month holiday following their 5-0 domestic Ashes whitewash and record third consecutive World Cup victory – and fourth overall – journeyed to South Africa for the inaugural World T20 with barely any experience in the game’s newest format. Still, or the team,clad in strange, space-age skin-tight uniforms, and pushed eventual champions India all the way in their nail-biting semi-final,going down by 15 runs. Indeed, had Brad Haddin chosen to unfurl his glorious cover-drive – instead of trying and failing to execute his crude hoick over mid-wicket – to four balls from RP Singh in the crucial 18th over that were wide of off-stump, and then the Indian Premier League – and,indeed, the broader T20 revolution itself – may never have happened.
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Source: theguardian.com