‘Revenge’: Cricket world all say same thing as Aussies crash out of World Cup
The fairytale run of Afghanistan at the T20 World Cup has come at the expense of Australia and the world has had its say on the shock development.
Questions have arisen about the future of the Australian T20 side after crashing out of the World Cup after back-to-back losses in the Super 8s.
Afghanistan proved fairytales do exist in their unbelievable run to the World Cup semi-finals but it came at the expense of the Aussies.
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Australia had left their fate in the hands of Bangladesh after falling to a 24-run loss to India earlier in the day.
And when Afghanistan were restricted to 5/115, the Aussie miracle was on.
But the cricket gods had other plans as Afghanistan qualified for their first World Cup semi-final in stunning scenes.
The world was quick to heap praise on the Afghans — despite a controversial moment that saw Gulbadin Naib fall to the ground after coach Jonathan Trott called for the side to “slow down” as rain neared.
But while Afghanistan were showered in deserved praise, the cricket world were happy to cut down the tall poppy that is Australia.
The Aussies came into the tournament looking to add the T20 World Cup trophy to the World Test Championship and One-Day World Cup titles.
And it was going swimmingly as Australia went undefeated through the group stages, before beating Bangladesh convincingly in the Super 8s.
However, losses to Afghanistan and India gave both sides a sense of payback.
In the ODI World Cup, Afghanistan had Australia 7/91 chasing their 5/291 — until Glenn Maxwell blasted the first double century in Australian ODI history.
Australia then went on to beat India in the final, having already beat them in the World Test Championship final as well.
One fan posted: “March 2024: Australia DENIED to play T20 bilaterals with Afghanistan.
“June 2024: Afghanistan knocked Australia OUT of T20 World Cup.”
Another added: “Afghanistan take their revenge Good luck Afghanistan. Better luck next time Australia.
Another commented: “There are few better feelings in cricket than watching Australia get knocked out of a World Cup.”
An Indian fan added: “There is no Australia in the T20 World Cup 2024 knockouts. It’s a victory of cricket.”
Another said: “I will show this to my kids and tell them the story how Mighty Afghanistan threw Australia team out of the World Cup.”
The Iceland Cricket X account also didn’t miss out, posting: “Q) What do you call an Australian in the knockouts of the 2024 T20 World Cup?
A) Umpire!
“Congratulations to Afghanistan on today’s history making triumph.”
And there were plenty more celebrating Australia crashing out of the World Cup.
But despite crashing out of the World Cup earlier than expected, Australian quick Josh Hazlewood said not much would change.
“They come around pretty quick, the T20 World Cups, every two years,” he said.
“There might be a couple of changes, but a lot of the guys still play in the franchise cricket if they’re not playing for Australia, so they’re available to be picked.
“There’s some class players in our 15, and we’ve got a couple on the bench as well. So, you’d think it’d be an actual slow change. I don’t think there’d be anything drastic.”
Two changes at least will be David Warner, who has retired from international cricket, while there will be question marks over 36-year-old Matthew Wade, who has retired from red ball cricket but will continue playing white ball cricket for Tasmania and in the Big Bash.
AAP reporter Oliver Caffrey delivered a stinging assessment for both Australia and Wade after the exit.
You’re sloppy in the field, put down easy catches, continually pick players past it (Warner and Wade), and that’s about all you deserve,” he wrote on X.
“It would’ve been daylight robbery had Australia progressed instead of Afghanistan. Unforgettable night in Kingstown
“Selectors were tied to Warner despite Delhi preferring JFM over him recently. But Wade (who said he wanted to retire after the 2022 World Cup) over Inglis is an all-time howler.”
However, News Corp cricket writer Robert Craddock suggested there may be big changes coming up.
“This is a watershed, what we’re seeing here,” Craddock said.
“There will be enormous change in this team. We've got one guy under 30 — Tim David — and then the next youngest is Travis Head at 30. I can see a massive restructure — and it should be so all three Australian teams don’t fall off a cliff in a couple of years.
“Guys like Nathan Ellis, Spencer Johnson, Josh Inglis all come into the team. This group of bowlers has been wonderful but in two years time, I bet you out of the 11 in this team, probably half will be gone.”
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