E-Paper
Sign In
Olympic concerns for Australia after T20 World Cup exit
Their pace attack has been a "shadow of former glories" without Hazlewood, Cummins or Mitchell Starc, who has retired from the format internationally
- PUBLISHED: Wed 18 Feb 2026, 1:28 PM
- By:
- AFP
Critics hammered Australia's bowling line-up and selection "stuff-ups" after the country's shock T20 World Cup exit in the group stages.
The 2021 champions were knocked out of the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Recommended For You
Zimbabwe qualified after their match against Ireland was rained off without a ball being bowled.
The washout gave each side one point, and left Australia unable to catch up.
Their campaign has been widely attacked as "shambolic".
Australia lost leading pace bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood to injury, while captain Mitchell Marsh missed the first two games after being hit in the groin in training and suffering testicular bleeding.
Their pace attack has been a "shadow of former glories" without Hazlewood, Cummins or Mitchell Starc, who has retired from the format internationally, The Australian newspaper said.
Test great Steve Smith was left out despite being in terrific form top of the order in the Big Bash League and his expertise in playing against spin bowling.
He flew in as cover last week and was formally added to the Australia squad at the weekend, after their surprise loss to Zimbabwe on Friday.
"We still haven't had a compelling answer as to why he wasn't yet in Colombo for the match against Zimbabwe, five days after Marsh was injured in the nets," The Australian said.
Then Smith was left out for the must-win game against Sri Lanka on Monday which saw an Australia middle-order collapse as they lost by eight wickets.
"We don't have that bowling depth, and that's really shown," former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg told British sports radio Talksport.
"We really weren't prepared enough for this particular World Cup, and we probably deserve what we've got at this stage."
Australia host the next T20 World Cup in 2028 but will be eyeing a bigger prize a few months before that when cricket is reintroduced to the Olympics in LA.
While the final qualifying system for the six-nation Olympic tournament is yet to be signed off, Australia have done themselves no favours.
World rankings are expected to decide automatic qualifying and Australia's will take a hit from their early elimination.
Oceania rivals New Zealand, who qualified for the World Cup's Super Eight phase, will be emboldened and may end up in a position to snatch Australia's spot at the Games.
In the meantime, Australia will confront what appears to be a sign of their sporting mortality as a slew of their ageing champions struggle for fitness and approach the end of their careers.
Hazlewood has been sidelined for months after Achilles and hamstring injuries, while Test and ODI captain Cummins played only a single Ashes Test since the West Indies tour in mid-2025 while struggling with a lower back problem.
Master batter Smith has declared he wants an Olympic medal in LA.
But he will be 39 when the Games start.
Other senior players are of a similar vintage, including all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell, who have been mainstays of Australia's white-ball dominance.
While selectors have made efforts to bring in a new generation of players, few have performed at a consistently high level for fans to feel assured about the future.
The pace trio of Nathan Ellis, Ben Dwarshuis and Xavier Bartlett have come in for rough treatment from batters at the World Cup, while all-rounder Cooper Connolly's miserable run with the bat continued in Sri Lanka.
T20 cricket has never been Australia's biggest priority, and their early exit from the World Cup may not trigger the kind of root-and-branch review that an Ashes defeat would bring.
However, with the Olympics and a home World Cup on the horizon, Australia has no choice but to kick off a rebuild for a white ball team whose aura has all but disappeared.
