T20 World Cup 2022: "Everything didn’t go right for Australia" - Former coach Justin Langer reflects on an unsuccessful campaign
Former Australian head coach Justin Langer has opened up on the Men in Yellow's failed T20 World Cup campaign on home soil. Langer opined that Australia needed a perfect lead-up to the competition instead of experimenting ahead of the same.
A year after Australia won their first T20 World Cup title in Dubai under Langer, Aaron Finch and Co. endured a group-stage exit this year.
Coming into the tournament, the defending champions had plenty of out-of-form players in their ranks, failing to post substantial runs on the board and take adequate wickets.
Andrew McDonald and his fellow selectors have time to reflect on potential personnel changes given Australia's next T20I assignment is nine months away.
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Speaking to SEN WA Breakfast, Langer reflected that plenty of things have to go right for any team to win a World Cup and Australia didn't have that. The 51-year-old observed that they have to forget about the failed campaign and move on to the next edition, saying:
"Yeah, a lot has to go right. I said before this series started, like winning an AFL Grand Final or NRL Grand Final, in a World Cup everything has to go right and everything didn’t go right for Australia, unfortunately.
"There was a lot of discussion about the lead-up and from afar it looked like it should have been the perfect lead-up coming into the summer, lots of T20 cricket and get on a roll."
He added:
"There was a bit of chopping and changing coming into the series, but they’ll be disappointed, no doubt about that. They’ll have to brush themselves off and get ready for the next one."
Although Australia didn't have a disastrous campaign, losing to New Zealand by 89 runs in their first game adversely affected their net run rate. Hence, even with three wins in the next four games, they weren't able to book a semi-final spot.
"It’s another huge opportunity for Cameron Green and another huge opportunity for Mitch Marsh" - Justin Langer on the upcoming ODI series against England
With Glenn Maxwell set to miss the three-game ODI series against England due to a freak injury, Langer believes Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green must step up in the star all-rounder's absence. He added:
"How I see it now is it’s another huge opportunity for Cameron Green and another huge opportunity for Mitch Marsh, the all-rounders. They’re both destructive players, Glenn isn’t there, they’ll have to step up in the field too.
"He is their best fieldsman, he brings energy to the group, he brings that off-spin option too. Australians have got a bit to think about, it’s a huge opportunity for those other guys."
JUST IN:
The first of the three ODIs between England and Australia will begin in Adelaide on Thursday, November 17.