Australia won the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup last year, dominating ICC competitions. They are now starting their journey to win in all three formats. Is this the Grand Slam of men’s cricket? The 50-over Champions Trophy will be back the following year, but let’s not let that stop an introduction.
They lost to England in the 2010 T20 World Cup final staged in the Caribbean, but they didn’t make a lasting impression on the competition until 2021 when they broke their title duck in the United Arab Emirates. Although their defence performed poorly at home the next year, most of that team is still there to try again.
They will play Oman in their first game, which should be a huge mismatch according to the theory. Oman’s skipper, Aqib Ilyas, talked up the chance his side had to establish themselves when they lost to Namibia in the Super Overs of the tournament. Oman had shown incredible resiliency to go that far in the game.
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With just nine players available for the two warm-up matches against Namibia and the West Indies (Brad Hodge, George Bailey, and Andrew McDonald were back in the fold to make up numbers in the field), Australia’s build-up has been haphazard as those who appeared late in the IPL were allowed to take a few days off.
Since then, there have been a few lengthy flights (Mitchell Starc took almost 60 hours to get to Barbados, according to Cameron Green) and some delayed luggage, but everyone has been together for a few days and, as history demonstrates, when a worldwide prize is at stake, Australian players usually win.
This competition may be the start of a change in Australia’s white-ball cricket game. In the coming weeks, David Warner’s international career will come to an end, but for some others, it is already almost over.
Mitchell Marsh, whose ascent to the captaincy is the most recent chapter in the amazing tale of his comeback at the international level, is leading them for the first time at a worldwide event.
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