Australia Twenty20 World Cup Team

Australia Team - Twenty20 World Cup Australia are yet to carry the success they have enjoyed in One Day International cricket into the shorter version of the game.

Despite the fact that Australia boasts one of the strongest domestic leagues in the world, the national team has struggled to adjust its game to the demands of the shortest version of the game.

Twenty20 World Cup History

Australia were one of the favourites to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup tournament in South Africa, coming into the event boosted by their 3rd consecutive World Cup of Cricket victory. Things failed to go according to plan for Australia from the outset, as they lost to Zimbabwe in the group stage, eventually qualifying for the Super Eights by virtue of a superior run-rate.

The Australians suffered a second loss, against Pakistan, in the Super Eights, but qualified for the semifinals of the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup with wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Australia’s next loss saw the team eliminated from the tournament, as they went down by 15 runs to a powerful Indian team.

The 2009 T20 World Cup saw the Australians provide yet another woeful performance at a T20 tournament. Despite starting amongst the favourites for the tournament, Australia crashed out early, losing games to Sri Lanka and the West Indies before being consigned to watch the rest of the tournament from the sidelines.

Strengths and Weaknesses

There is no doubting the depth of Australian cricket and the skills of the Australian players. The Australians possess incredible self-belief, generated by decades of success in all forms of the game, and benefit from a never-ending supply of world class players.

However, Twenty20 cricket seems to be the great leveller in the sport, and Australia has been proved to be vulnerable in the shorter version of the game. The retirement of key players in recent years has affected all levels of the Australian game, and successfully blooding a new generation of players will be a crucial part of the Australians strategy ahead of the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup.