Defeat leaves Aussies needing to channel legends of '99

They say there is a little bit of truth in every joke and that was perhaps the case in Mitch Marsh's icebreaker in the SCG changerooms after Australia's first-up battering in the ICC T20 World Cup.

"Someone joked as soon as we walked in and said, 'Perfect, this is right where we wanted to be – backs against the wall'," said Adam Zampa after the 90-run defeat to New Zealand, laughing as he confirmed the "clown" responsible for the wisecrack was Marsh. 

This is the spirit of a team whose maiden title last year was fuelled by proving critics wrong.

If the impressive New Zealanders or fellow heavyweights England avoid upset defeats to fellow Group 1 members Sri Lanka, Ireland or Afghanistan, then Australia will need to win six games in a row to become the first men's team to defend their T20 crown.

Steve and Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Shane Lee, Tom Moody, Brendon Julian and Adam Dale, among the former players munching oysters in an SCG function room celebrating Australia's men's World Cup success on Saturday evening, could relate.

Those players' 1999 World Cup tilt in the United Kingdom was in disarray after early losses to the Kiwis and Pakistan in the group stage, meaning they needed to win (or, in the case of the famous Edgbaston semi-final, tie) seven consecutive games to lift the trophy.

For this current group of Aussies, presuming no slip-ups from their main competitors, the number of required consecutive wins sits at six if they want to lift the trophy for a second time in a year. 

"It makes it pretty obvious now. Our net run rate has taken a hit," said Zampa, whose side's net run-rate (the determining factor for teams level on points at the end of the Super 12s) now sits at a lowly -4.45.  

"(But) normally if you can win four games out of five, net run rate is probably null and void anyhow.

"So if we can somehow start playing good cricket and win those four (remaining group stage) games then we give ourselves a chance. It's just about getting back to playing good cricket."

What this T20 side's spirit has also been built on is not throwing the baby out with the bathwater after a defeat.

Instead, they want lessons from identified mistakes to be calmly, but swiftly, learned.

It is somewhat surprising Saturday's most notable hiccups came from their star pacemen, who were taken apart on their home ground by a 23-year-old who had appeared just once before in Australia, and never in Sydney, the home patch of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. 

While Devon Conway may have been player of the match for his unbeaten 92, it was the blistering new-ball onslaught from Finn Allen (42 off 16) that saw the trio taken for 14, 15 and 17 off their respective first overs that quickly set the tone for the evening.

Rarely have those three ever copped that type of punishment at the start of a game, and it proved a telling early blow from which Australia never recovered. 

Allen spoke about wanting to "land the first punch" against the Aussie attack and even Conway was in awe of quite how he did it. 

"We certainly know they are the big three – classy bowling attack, the three of them together," he said.

"I have to give a lot of credit to Finn – the way he played and the way he put them under pressure allowed me to get those balls that were slightly looser. 

"In T20 cricket, if you put bowlers under pressure, no matter how good you are, it's obviously quite a tough gig."

The lesson for Australia, according to coach Andrew McDonald, was more slower balls or turning to spin in the Powerplay.

"Any time you see that, you probably reflect you could have taken more pace off the ball – whether that's more slower balls from the pace bowling or whether that's shifting down to the spin options," McDonald said. 

"We discussed that leading into the game … we tried to pull it back and we felt like we had some sort of control through the middle, but because we hadn't made any impact in the wickets, it was always going to be a long way back."

McDonald, however, was not quite as willing as Zampa to concede it was necessarily a long way back for the Aussies in this tournament.

Both the coach and skipper Aaron Finch stressed there is little point thinking about winning future matches when there are others – namely Tuesday's clash with qualifiers Sri Lanka in Perth – right in front of them.

"To be able to not look that far ahead – because you can't win the tournament if you don't win the next game – (is important)," Finch said.

"There's a lot of little things – well they're big things actually – that can distract you if you allow them, so the fact that we've lost one game, yes, it's a heavy loss and it hurts our chances no doubt, but we can't dwell on that.

"We've taken the fate out of our own hands to a point – we need to be ultra-positive and ultra-aggressive."

Men's T20 World Cup 2022

Australia squad: Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Australia's T20 World Cup 2022 fixtures

Oct 22: New Zealand defeat Australia by 89 runs

Oct 25: v Sri Lanka, Optus Stadium, 10pm AEDT

Oct 28: v England, MCG, 7pm AEDT

Oct 31: v Ireland, Gabba, 7pm AEDT

Nov 4: v Afghanistan, Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

Click here for a full 2022 T20 World Cup fixture