Who’s to blame for Australia’s T20 World Cup crash out?

For the first time since 2009, Australia won’t advance from the group stage of a cricket World Cup and some of the game’s greatest ever players are demanding answers.

Australia's bowling attack was poor throughout the tournament.  (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone ) The fallout from Australia's T20 World Cup collapse has begun with Glenn McGrath slamming the "not surprising" group stage exit. Australia play a dead rubber against Oman in their final match on Saturday morning. Australia, for the first time at a 50-over or 20-over World Cup since 2009, won't advance from the group stage.

Losses to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, punctuated by a win over Ireland, left captain Mitch Marsh and his squad needing the Irish to beat Zimbabwe to have any hope of progressing. Australia can no longer catch up with Zimbabwe after it was awarded a point from a rained out match with Ireland. That's assuming the Australians would defeat Oman in their last group game on Saturday. But the Ireland-Zimbabwe fixture was washed out, consigning Australia to an ignominious early exit.

"We said at the start of this World Cup that we were concerned about Australia," pace great Glenn McGrath said, pointing to the non-appearances of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc exposing a soft underbelly. "All of a sudden the aura of that Australian team is no longer there when other teams play it … unfortunately, not surprising." McGrath was dissecting Australia's flop against Sri Lanka with fellow retired quicks Jason Gillespie and Damien Fleming, host of podcast The Fast Bowling Cartel.

With Cummins and Hazlewood injured, and Starc retired from T20 internationals, Gillespie said there were now "please explain" queries to selectors. There's the Steve Smith conundrum. Left out of the initial squad, called up last week, flown to Sri Lanka — and not playing. Smith was overlooked despite his immaculate form in the Big Bash. (Getty: Ayush Kumar ) And Matt Renshaw. The lefthander is Australia's highest run-scorer at the cup — he top-scored in the game-two loss to Zimbabwe and was then dropped for the Sri Lanka fixture.

"At some point you have got to repay the faith of the selectors," Gillespie said. "And right now Cooper Connolly, and I think to a lesser extent Cameron Green, they're just not repaying the absolute faith that has been given." Green has bowled only seven deliveries in Australia's three matches so far in an attack smacked for a combined 4-353 in 38 overs against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Australia's shock loss to Zimbabwe was the dagger in the heart of their campaign.  (Getty: Matthew Lewis/ICC) "If he's not bowling then what the selectors are saying is that he's a better player than Steve Smith.

If he's not bowling I just can't see how he justifies a spot in that side," McGrath said. After three games the Australians boast just three bowlers with multiple wickets — Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa (four each), and Marcus Stoinis (three). Renshaw (102 runs at 51) is the nation's leading runscorer, followed by Travis Head (79 at 26.33). Captain Marsh missed the opening two matches because of a testicular injury, mid-order blaster Tim David didn't return from a hamstring injury until the Zimbabwe game, and Glenn Maxwell has made 63 runs in three digs.

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that's making headlines. David and Maxwell both missed Australia's cup warm ups, three games in Pakistan, as did Ellis, as they recovered from ailments. Marsh, Josh Inglis, Connolly and Ben Dwarshuis arrived late in Pakistan after the BBL finals. That pre-tournament tour of Pakistan resulted in defeats by 22, 90 and 111 runs — the last two are the nation's largest in terms of runs in T20 internationals.

Before the cup the warning signs of a disjointed preparation were put to skipper Marsh: "Absolutely no stress there from our end," he said. More T20 rebuilding looms before Australia co-hosts the 2028 cup with New Zealand with just three players in the current squad — Green, Cooper and Xavier Bartlett — aged under 30 when it rolls around.

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