Head coach Andrew McDonald says two substandard efforts with bat, ball and in the field had left Australia's players 'stunned' and was 'not a true reflection on our team'
'They will respond': Coach keeps faith for quick Cup turnaround
Australia will resist bringing a fresh face into their World Cup squad with coach Andrew McDonald backing the 14 players currently in India to get their campaign back on track after being left "stunned" by two heavy defeats to start the tournament.
While wicketkeeper Alex Carey paid the price for Australia's recent middle-order woes as a shock omission for last night's record loss to South Africa, selectors also have the option to bring another player into their squad with Travis Head still at home in Adelaide recovering from a fractured hand.
Head passed his first checkpoint for a World Cup return after Australia opted to carry him through the first half of the tournament, with McDonald revealing scans on Thursday had shown the bone was "healing nicely".
Apart from Glenn Maxwell's 2-34 off 10 overs, Head's scan results were the only positive for Australia on Thursday as they sunk to their heaviest defeat in 50-over World Cup history.
But McDonald says he has "great trust" in the squad of 14 to turn around a worrying string of performances over the past eight one-day internationals and get their World Cup off and running against Sri Lanka at the same venue on Monday.
"They're quality players and they're proud of their performance and they will respond," McDonald told reporters following Australia's 134-run loss at the hands of South Africa.
"They're pretty stunned, I think. They sit there, there's a lot of silence in the room and our job is to regroup and get moving towards Sri Lanka.
"That's not a true reflection on our team.
"We're focused on what we've got there and there's quality skillsets … not performing the way that we would like.
"Our next opportunity is Sri Lanka and we'll be judged on that. We've got to put these ones behind us, we've got to reflect honestly and keep moving forwards in this tournament.
"(We) always believe that it will turn around, the game doesn't keep you down for too long as long as you keep that positive mindset and keep moving forward and that's our challenge at the moment.
"We'll have a chat about it, and we've got to trust the playing skills in the sheds to be able to get the job done and I truly believe that is the case."
The five-time champions will no doubt welcome the arrival of a new opposition in Lucknow for Monday's clash, with South Africa and India able to repeatedly expose the same issues over the past eight ODIs, which includes their two World Cup matches and the series against the two nations leading into the tournament.
Australia has been plagued by batting collapses, substandard fielding and an inability to take wickets in the Powerplay and middle overs across those eight games, with all four areas carrying through to the World Cup to leave them 0-2 and second last after the tournament's first week.
Australia will have to create history if they are to lift the trophy in Ahmedabad on November 19 with no team going on to win the World Cup after losing their first two games. In 2019 (the same format as this year's World Cup), no team reached the semi-finals after losing their first two games.
While McDonald said Australia would seek clarification from the ICC over the controversial DRS decision that saw Marcus Stoinis given out caught off the glove that replays showed appeared not to be holding the handle of the bat, he was adamant they would look at themselves and "not other external factors".
"Our performance was average tonight," he said.
"We've won one of the last eight and it's been a common theme, we haven't been able to navigate through the middle as well as what we'd like.
"We've probably relied on top order starts to get the big total we require so there's no doubt there's some improvement in that batting group but also with the ball, and I thought the fielding tonight wasn't a true reflection of the quality of skills that we do have.
"We put down six chances and anytime you're doing that against a quality outfit, you're going to be up against it so that was really disappointing that effort in the field.
"It's not in one area in particular, it's across all three phases of the game and that's the disappointing part.
"There's seven games left, we've had two disappointing performances, our ability to respond at the moment hasn't been where we would like.
"It's pretty clear, the equation's simple, seven more matches left and there's a potential that we might have to win all seven.
"But the first step is Sri Lanka and we've got to get busy playing a lot better than we are at the moment."
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points