“Australia got a bit too funky with their selections”
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Legendary Australia leg-spinner Shane Warner has blamed the national selectors for Australia’s disappointing showing at the World Twenty20.
Australia had a chance to reach the semi-finals of the tournament, but lost their must-win match against India by six wickets. As a result, their wait to clinch their maiden World Twenty20 trophy goes on.
However, Warne believes that Australia’s fortunes could have been different had the national selectors stuck with David Warner and Aaron Finch as the Baggy Greens’ openers and let Usman Khawaja come in at number three.
Australia began the tournament with Khawaja and Shane Watson opening the batting before bringing Finch in to open with Khawaja. Warner meanwhile found himself coming in as a middle order batsman before he was promoted to the number three spot.
“First of all, our selection was wrong in my opinion,” Warne told Cricket Australia’s official website. “I don’t think we got that right, we messed around with it too much rather than sticking with what’s been a proven formula and we probably didn’t play well enough, which is the brutal truth.
“I know Khawaja was in unbelievable form and had to play but I would have batted him at No 3. I don’t think they should have broken up Finch and Warner and I think it upset the balance of the team.
“Those two guys had been batting together for a long time, they have done well in Twenty20, they’ve done well in one-day cricket, and suddenly they got spilt up.
“And I just would never, ever have left Aaron Finch out. Even if he missed out in a few games, I think that Finch-Warner partnership, it’s an intimidatory factor before a ball was bowled and people would have worried about Finch and Warner.
“It’s not to say they didn’t worry about Khawaja, but I just think the other two are more destructive.”
Warne also pointed out that Australia should have selected pace bowler John Hastings instead of Josh Hazlewood in their last two games against Pakistan and India as the former is an expert in the art of death bowling.
“Australia got a bit too funky with their selections,” Warne said. “I think John Hastings was picked in the squad as a specialist to bowl at the end but he got dropped for the game he should have played at the end (against India).
“To me, (Josh) Hazlewood is a guy that is a beautiful Test bowler, and it’s not that he can’t bowl in these forms of the game, but I just think Hastings is a better option in a Twenty20 game because of his yorkers – we saw him in the Big Bash bowl his yorkers – he’s just about the best we have.”