Australia declare no excuses despite unfair T20 World Cup Super 8 schedule compared to rivals

Andrew McDonald insists Australia won’t blame a brutal schedule if they are knocked out, but the run-around they have copped in comparison to rivals like India and England is farcical, writes BEN HORNE.

Coach Andrew McDonald is refusing to make Australia’s horror World Cup schedule an excuse for his team’s dismal loss to Afghanistan which has put them on the verge of elimination.

If Australia is bounced out of the tournament by India at 12.30am on Tuesday morning AEST in St Lucia, make no mistake – it will be because of their shocking fielding display against Afghanistan, and almost as poor batting.

But the gruelling schedule they have copped in comparison to rivals like India, England and Afghanistan is nothing short of a farce.

By the time Australian players got back to their St Vincent hotel after the Afghanistan defeat it would have been well after 2am.

By the time they fell to sleep it would have been closer to 4am.

At 9.30am they were due on the bus for an 11am flight to the next location St Lucia – the third island they’ve hopped between in four days.

Australia has more travel than any of their Super 8 rivals. Picture: Randy Brooks / AFP

And having copped the absurdly late starting time of 8.30pm local time for their first two Super 8s match, suddenly Australia has been switched to the primary school early time slot of 10.30am against India on Monday morning local.

It means that match will start exactly 34 hours after Australia’s last one against Afghanistan finished.

Pat Cummins summed up the mind-bending schedule when after finishing his press-conference against Bangladesh in the first Super 8s match after 1am, he quipped to reporters, “see you at the game tomorrow.”

Talk about quick turnarounds.

Compare this to India who surprise, surprise have been afforded the luxury of starting every one of their World Cup matches at 10.30am to suit prime time viewers back in the sub-continent.

That means full night-sleeps and predictable flight times the whole way through.

Not only that, India played three of its group matches in the one location in New York, and already know that if they qualify for a semi it will be in Guyana – because it’s been predetermined, again for Indian TV.

The Twenty20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 schedule has been favourable toward India. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

England has also been dealt a generous schedule. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Compare this to Australia who after starting with two matches in Barbados, have been forced to go to Antigua, then to St Lucia, then back to Antigua, then off to St Vincent then back to St Lucia again.

Meanwhile, England has also been given the rails’ run, given the luxury of being able to unpack their suitcase fully in each location, playing back-to-back matches in Barbados, then two consecutive games in Antigua and then another two-game block in St Lucia.

Even Afghanistan has the luxury of not having to up and leave to a new spot after beating Australia, and will stay in the same St Vincent beds for their night time clash against Bangladesh on Monday morning AEST.

The compromised schedule is really only the tip of the iceberg when you consider the fact there was no reward for Australia winning its group, no reward for having a great net run rate in their group and any other number of factors that has made this more the Truman Show of cricket than a World Cup.

Australia coach Andrew McDonald won’t be using the schedule as an excuse. Picture: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

McDonald claimed he didn’t realise Australia had been stitched up in comparison to their biggest rivals and was refusing to offer excuses.

“I haven’t looked at what the other teams are doing to be perfectly honest. So I’m not aware of what their tournaments look like,” McDonald said.

“We knew from the start what we were in for. We’ve planned around that and scheduling is always going to be a debate.

“The tournament has definitely sped up. Short turnarounds. It becomes a little bit attritional there’s no doubt about that and we’ve just got to make good decisions around how our players pull up and it’s no different to any other team.

“We’d like to think we’ve planned and prepared the players who are physically prepared for the demands of it so I think we’ll see a 15 player squad all available on the selection table and we’ve got to make a good decision in terms of selection. Hopefully finalise our team on Monday AEST.”