Out of form, undermanned and thrashed by Zimbabwe, can Australia salvage their World Cup?

Australia’s 23-run loss to Zimbabwe is as big an upset as we will see in world cricket.

It’s very much in the David and Goliath territory. This is a seven-time World Cup winner and powerhouse nation in the global game being beaten by a country that is still recovering from political turmoil which saw them banned and lose a generation of players.

To put into perspective the financial gulf between the two nations, Zimbabwe’s best players earn just over $250,000 from their board. Marcus Stoinis’s IPL contract of $2 million alone, without even mentioning the value of his Cricket Australia contract, would be worth more than the entire Zimbabwe XI.

This is Australia’s fifth loss in 40 internationals to Zimbabwe since they first played in 1983 and their first defeat since … the last time they played them in 2022 in Townsville.

There will be a sense of schadenfreude in the global cricket community at Australia’s defeat, given the country rarely plays the lower-tier nations.

Australia have hosted Zimbabwe in just one series in 22 years. Their only meeting came in August and September 2022 in the aforementioned three-game ODI series in Townsville.

Australia’s shock defeat means they must defeat host nation Sri Lanka in the early hours of Tuesday morning (AEDT) if they are to have any hope of avoiding being embarrassingly eliminated in the first phase of the tournament.

This was already a tortured campaign for Australia, who are missing Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood then lost skipper Mitch Marsh to a freak testicular injury.

Questions must now be asked of Australia’s selection. They opted to play this stage of the tournament with 14 players instead of 15 after opting not to replace Hazlewood, as they believed they had the personnel to get through.

In Marsh’s absence, Steve Smith would have been incredibly handy at the top of the order, at least offering a steady and experienced head for the tricky run chase, but he was playing in at a LIV Adelaide Pro-Am on Wednesday and is en route to join the team in Sri Lanka.

Australia have made similarly slow starts in major tournaments before and recovered to win, most recently at the 2023 World Cup in India, but it’s extremely difficult to see how this undermanned squad can repeat history.

Thanks so much for joining us tonight as Australia fell to Zimbabwe by 23 runs.

We will have more T20 World Cup coverage to come in the days ahead, so please keep visiting our sports pages.

Please have a lovely evening and bye for now.

Australia’s 23-run loss to Zimbabwe is as big an upset as we will see in world cricket.

It’s very much in the David and Goliath territory. This is a seven-time World Cup winner and powerhouse nation in the global game being beaten by a country that is still recovering from political turmoil which saw them banned and lose a generation of players.

To put into perspective the financial gulf between the two nations, Zimbabwe’s best players earn just over $250,000 from their board. Marcus Stoinis’s IPL contract of $2 million alone, without even mentioning the value of his Cricket Australia contract, would be worth more than the entire Zimbabwe XI.

This is Australia’s fifth loss in 40 internationals to Zimbabwe since they first played in 1983 and their first defeat since … the last time they played them in 2022 in Townsville.

There will be a sense of schadenfreude in the global cricket community at Australia’s defeat, given the country rarely plays the lower-tier nations.

Australia have hosted Zimbabwe in just one series in 22 years. Their only meeting came in August and September 2022 in the aforementioned three-game ODI series in Townsville.

Australia’s shock defeat means they must defeat host nation Sri Lanka in the early hours of Tuesday morning (AEDT) if they are to have any hope of avoiding being embarrassingly eliminated in the first phase of the tournament.

This was already a tortured campaign for Australia, who are missing Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood then lost skipper Mitch Marsh to a freak testicular injury.

Questions must now be asked of Australia’s selection. They opted to play this stage of the tournament with 14 players instead of 15 after opting not to replace Hazlewood, as they believed they had the personnel to get through.

In Marsh’s absence, Steve Smith would have been incredibly handy at the top of the order, at least offering a steady and experienced head for the tricky run chase, but he was playing in at a LIV Adelaide Pro-Am on Wednesday and is en route to join the team in Sri Lanka.

Australia have made similarly slow starts in major tournaments before and recovered to win, most recently at the 2023 World Cup in India, but it’s extremely difficult to see how this undermanned squad can repeat history.

Tonight’s loss puts Australia’s hopes at this World Cup in serious jeopardy.

The Aussies, who entered the tournament undermanned and lacking form, simply must win their next game, against Sri Lanka starting at 12.30am (AEDT) Tuesday in Pallekele.

A win over the co-hosts would likely be enough for Australia to advance to the Super-8s stage of the tournament, but if they were to lose in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the embarrassing prospect of an early plane ride home would loom large.

Given Australia started in what was perceived as a relatively soft group alongside Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Oman and Ireland, that would be a most unedifying outcome.

Stand-in Australian captain Travis Head has blamed losing early wickets for the loss and defended his decision to bowl first after winning the toss.

“We thought it was a good wicket, we thought it was a little bit tacky at the start but would be pretty even throughout the whole contest,” Head told broadcasters.

“I think that it showed it was. Even taking two wickets, we thought the score was below par as we made 180 on a wicket that was much tougher.

“I felt like it [the ball] came on really well in the second innings, but we lost wickets and put ourselves under pressure.”

Blessing Muzarabani won the player of the match award for his haul of 4-17 from four overs.

“Because I was bowling to one of the best players in the world, I was really happy [my bowling] came off really nice,” Muzarabani told broadcasters.

“I had to use the [big] boundaries and the wicket was really slow as well. I had to adjust and find the right length to bowl.

“I also believe Brad Evans bowled really well and everyone else bowled really well as well.”

Australia will be nine wickets down going into the last over after Zampa was clean bowled.

Australia will need 29 runs from the last over with one wicket left.

Mission impossible.

Renshaw has been caught after skying a short ball from Muzarabani.

Zimbabwe are so close to victory and Australia are down to 8-139 from 18.4 overs.