Welcome to The Debate, where the Mercury sport team discusses the big issues in Illawarra, national and international sport. This week, sports writers AGRON LATIFI and JORDAN WARREN discuss the T20 cricket World Cup as the Aussies were officially knocked out of the tournament at the weekend.
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WARREN: Well Agron, we were hoping for a miracle of some sort on Saturday night as Sri Lanka needed to beat England to secure Australia's spot in the semi-finals of the World Cup but it was not to be as the side was unable to defend their crown on home soil.
In my opinion the format is a bit harsh considering Australia only lost one game - albeit a smashing at the hands of New Zealand - and failed to make the next stages of the tournament. But here we are and the final four consists of New Zealand, Pakistan, England and India.
Agron, what did you make of the Aussie's tournament? Do you feel it was harsh for them to miss out on the next stage, or do you think we did not really deserve to go to the knockouts?
LATIFI: Well Jordan, as much as I would have liked Australia to have qualified for the finals, in all honesty I don't think they deserved to. We never really recovered from that big first-up loss to the Kiwis. Even when it was apparent we had to up our run-rate we struggled. We had opportunities against Ireland and Afghanistan to do this but just couldn't get the job done.
I think the writing was on the wall that Australia would struggle even before the tournament started. Playing Cameron Green, who is a very good player, in lead-up games even though he wasn't in the T20 World Cup squad, made no sense at all. In the tournament itself too many of our supposed big players underperformed. The question that must be asked is where to now for Australia?
I've got my thoughts on the matter but what about you Jordan, do you think Australia needs to make wholesale changes adjust a few tweaks here and there?
WARREN: I agree with you mate, it made no sense re the Green decision. I think it was a disappointing tournament all-round for Australia, especially at home, to not make it out of the group stages must be considered a failure.
No disrespect to Afghanistan, but we only managed to beat them by four runs when we needed our batters to step up and give us a mammoth total to up our run rate on the table.
There has got to be question marks over the selection process, mainly the Green decision that has me baffled. Of course the pinnacle of the sport is Test cricket and that's what Australia have coming up against the West Indies and then South Africa in a massive summer of cricket on our shores, but there seems to be this attitude from the hierarchy of Australian Cricket that the T20 format is still second rate and must not be taken as seriously as the longer format.
T20 cricket is huge, in India especially. We've seen the interest in the domestic Big Bash League deteriorate over time, whilst the IPL in India continues to grow from strength-to-strength. Even the Carribean Premier League continues to improve year-on-year. Is this lack of interest affecting the Australian national team? Possibly. But the fact that we've approached this tournament - one we are hosting- so nonchalantly, is disheartening.
In terms of personnel changes and where the side goes from here, I feel there should be a real look into the future and discovering the nation's next best stars. A regeneration if you will, at T20 level at least.
The focus will now turn to the Australian summer of cricket but I hope, but do expect, some chances to spice up the side a little.
You mentioned you have your own thoughts on the matter Agron, what do you think should be the next step?
LATIFI: Australia has this policy of sticking with ageing stars, even when times are tough. While this is admirable, I feel sticking with Aaron Finch was a mistake. Don't get me wrong Finch is a very good captain and cricketer, especially in the T20 format, but his form and fitness heading into the tournament was abysmal.
In the tournament itself you could see him desperately trying to make things happen but he never really set a good platform for the rest of the batting order. He wasn't helped by fellow opener David Warner, who had a lean series.
I really think Australia needs to follow the lead of other nations and take T20 seriously. We can't rely on our Test stars anymore, we need to pick different teams for different formats.
There are a number of good young players we should pick ahead of the next World Cup, which is just 15 months away.
I think we should be bringing players such as Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Josh Philippe and Ben Mcdermott just to name a few.
But that's the next World Cup, as for this one my money is on New Zealand. I think they have been the best side and have a well balanced squad with some big hitters throughout the team. What about you Jordan, who wins it from here?
WARREN: It's a great point you make about the ageing stars and Finch is just one of them that needs to step aside you feel.
As for this World Cup it's tough to decide, but I'm going to go for India to win their first tournament since the inaugural one in 2007. Virat Kohli is a big-game player and I feel he will step up and provide when his side need's it most.
And that's not to discredit the two other sides that we haven't mentioned - Pakistan and England.
Pakistan have proven they can match it with any side in the world and England have a number of stars, including former Sixers opening batsman Alex Hales, who could prove to be the difference in their semi against India.
India just have a number of players such as Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin that can win them the game with both bat and ball alike.
It should be a mouthwatering couple of semi-finals with Pakistan taking on New Zealand on Wednesday in Sydney and then England taking on India on Thursday in Adelaide.
For me, India will take on the Kiwis in the final on Sunday at the MCG and get the better of them.
Illawarra Sports Awards
The Mercury, in partnership with the Illawarra Academy Of Sport and presenting sponsor Illawarra Credit Union, is hosting the Illawarra Sports Awards, to be held on Thursday, November 10 at the Fraternity Club.
