Australia Out of Twenty20 World Cup while England March On

Despite their early stumble, England still qualified for the Super 8s stage of the World Twenty20. The same can’t be said for Australia who went out in straight sets.

For its troubles, England finds itself in a difficult group alongside India, West Indies and South Africa. This is definitely the Group of Death, even more so when the other group will only contain Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Ireland and Pakistan.

England yet could prove a dark horse in the competition and with vocal home-tome support could provide a much sterner test as the tournament unfolds. That is the thing about tournaments – you don’t want to peak too early. So all you want to do is get through to the next stage, regardless of how ugly it looks.

No one now remembers how badly Australia fared in the early stages of the 1999 World Cup. It lost to New Zealand and Pakistan in the group stage and was looking like it was destined to be sent home.

Australia is now off to lick its wounds and prepare for the Ashes. The early elimination from the tournament could prove to be a blessing in disguise. It gives them plenty of time to acclimatize to the local conditions and plan a strategy. They can do this distraction free while England could be playing Twenty20 cricket up to two weeks before the First Ashes Test.

Australia has a lot to think about ahead of the Ashes. Apart from Phillip Hughes, there are question marks over the rest of the top six. Simon Katich and Michael Clarke have been in reasonable form in the longer form of the game, but will the demons from Ashes 2005 return to haunt them? There is also a lot of pressure on Michael Hussey. He knows the English conditions very well, but is yet to experience Ashes cricket in England. It is a different game from the Ashes cricket which is played in Australia.

The visitors must also think long and hard about the make-up of their bowling attack. Are they going to play Nathan Hauritz? Not to do so would mean going without a specialist spinner. This would be a massive change from four years ago when Shane Warne took an astonishing 40 wickets. Then there are the doubts of Stuart Clark and Brett Lee who are both returning from injury.

David Wiseman is a sports journalist and analyst for Betfair Australia. He is really enjoying the summer of sport, and can’t wait for some serious Australian cricket victories.