Australian captain Mitchell Marsh on Friday described the team’s group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup as a “missed opportunity” but still believed he had the squad to go all the way in the tournament.Australia, one of the giants of limited-overs cricket with six ODI and one T20 World Cup title triumphs, failed to progress beyond the group stage in this edition of the T20 showpiece following defeats to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, but ended their campaign with a nine-wicket drubbing of Oman.
“Probably just the sense of a missed opportunity,” Marsh said when asked what’s going on in his mind as the team leaves the tournament earlier than expected.At the presentation ceremony after the game against Oman, the skipper added, “As I’ve said a few times, it’s a bitterly disappointed change room. Like every team, we built towards this for two years.“Unfortunately, in a couple of key games, we just didn’t play our best cricket – and that’s tournament play. You lose a game like the one against Zimbabwe, and suddenly you’re under pressure.“Credit to them, they played well, but we’re a very disappointed group right now.”The tournament is being held jointly by India and Sri Lanka, and the conditions have been different in both countries. Marsh, however, refused to read much into the conditions as his team was grappling with injuries, poor form of players, and a few questionable selections.“I don’t think conditions were the main issue. In Colombo, it was slow, but we had prepared for that. I still believe we had the squad to get the job done. But in tournament cricket, if you’re even slightly off, you can lose a game that puts you on the back foot.“Over the last couple of weeks, there were good opportunities for us, but we just weren’t able to deliver when it mattered most,” Marsh said.Oman failed to win a single match in the tournament, and skipper Jatinder Singh said they will reflect on the preparation and performance, which was “not up to the mark”.“It is a proud moment for all of us that we got a chance. The result and the journey, it did not go our way. Will reflect on the preparation, it was not quite up to the mark.He added, “Could not get the full members’ support. Wanted to play competitive cricket but could only play domestic cricket.“Now, everyone has experienced it (top-level cricket), we know what ingredients are required for this stage. We have taken a lot of learnings from this stage and have taken a lot of positives, from the opposition as well.”Seasoned leg-spinner Adam Zampa was named player of the match for returning excellent figures of 4/21, which resulted in Oman getting bowled out for 104 and Australia chasing it down in just 9.4 overs with Marsh scoring a sparkling half-century.Needless to say, Zampa was not chuffed about the tournament as a whole for his team.“It has been a rough few days. Few quiet voices (in the dressing room). Feeling pretty flat about the World Cup ending so soon.“We built something around the brand of cricket we felt would work. Unfortunately, it did not work for us,” Zampa said.“Looking back, could have done more in the Sri Lanka game. My contribution to that game was not where I wanted it to be. My job is to take wickets through the middle. Was able to do that in a couple of games but not in others.“Unfortunately, we could not get it done when it mattered. Really disappointed, wherein I am not yet ready to fly back home tomorrow,” he added.
