Australia's response to the critics: A week's worth of reflections
This week, Australian players celebrated and reflected on their momentous victory at the T20 World Cup. Outside commentary and observations about the team had often been unflattering before the tournament began.
Acutely aware of the reproval that had been directed towards their side, several Aussie players took the opportunity to respond to their critics.
In the intensely scrutinized world of elite sport in the social media era, their reaction was summarized by three words: "keep the receipts". It revealed how the Aussie players had kept certain bouts of criticism in mind as motivation to win the T20 World Cup.
Adam Zampa spectacularly responded to criticism leveled at the side by Michael Vaughan in a word-for-word rebuttal captioned on Instagram.
"I'll say it now, I don't give Australia much chance. In T20 cricket they have struggled. I don't see Australia doing too much," it read.
Speaking after the tournament, Zampa also revealed that he had become accustomed to being underestimated. But his on-field heroics, which resulted in 13 wickets and an economy rate of 5.81, narrowly denied him the "player of the tournament" title.
Home 🏆 🇦🇺 #T20WorldCup https://t.co/vd1vpKzGEJ
In a more formalized setting, Victorian-based players had the chance to symbolically mark their victory. Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis posed with the T20 World Cup trophy at the MCG mid-week.
While there, Marcus Stoinis offered a further explanation of his efforts to "keep the receipts."
"As athletes, you sometimes remember the things the journos say. You write it down and you add it to the fire in the belly just to keep you going. We didn't indulge it too much during the tournament, people get written off ... that's part of sport and it bonded us," he said.
Justin Langer's job had been heavily surveyed in relation to his coaching style, which was seen as too intense and aggressive. This dates back to last summer, before the issue re-surfaced mid-year with reports that he had been wearing the team down. But Langer's ability to re-group the side and turn that perception around quelled public criticism in his "keep the receipts" moment.
Australia's big names stood up in the face of critics
Commentary arose over the team's lack of recent success as a collective, but was then falsely directed at individuals. Most players were questioned in the lead-up to the tournament—some more than others.
David Warner's omission from the IPL saw him risk the same occurring for his national side. Faced with that prospect, Warner scored 289 runs in the T20 World Cup with an average of 48.16, earning him the title of "player of the tournament."
Out of form, too old and slow! 😳🤣 congratulations @davidwarner31 https://t.co/Ljf25miQiM
Public discourse about Mitch Marsh's place in Australian cricket bordered on genuine disdain for years, which the all-rounder almost embraced. The culmination of that sentiment was evident when he said "most of Australia hate me" during the 2019 Ashes.
His knock of 77 of 50 balls eased Australia to victory in the final, and he finished as Australia's second-highest run scorer in the tournament with 185 runs and an average of 61.66.
After all, he was the sole shining light on Australia's T20 cricket this year. On tours to Bangladesh and the West Indies, he was propelled to the No.3 spot, where he was the highest-run scorer (219 at 43.80 with a strike rate of 152.08).
Josh Hazlewood was viewed as a longer-format player who had been shoved into the T20 team. But he followed up his figures of 2/29 in the IPL Final for the Chennai Super Kings with an even more impressive contribution of 3/16 in the World Cup final.
Matthew Wade's role was contentious as he revealed that he was prepared for the tournament to be his last outing in Australian colors. He told SEN Hobart that it had been a big 72 hours since the win, but it would take a few days to properly sink in as he settled back into Australia.
There's no reason why Australia can't back it up at their home tournament in 2022.