Matthew Hayden: The Australian team has some thinking to do

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Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden is not satisfied with Australia's performance at the T20 World Cup and is looking for changes. "The Australian team has some thinking to do," he said for cricbuzz.com "There has to be some freshness.

And I think one of the great strengths of Australian cricket has been its ability to be able to recognize when to make that gear change into a different playing roster. I think full credit and respect has to go to the players that played this tournament...

certainly deserve to be there." Hayden recalled his playing days and the decisions of the coach at the time. "A little bit like Mark Waugh giving way to someone like myself after World Cup campaigns, it's been quite ruthlessly preparing for the next World Cup and they seemingly come around more often than not," he said.

"Just 12 months ago, we were sitting here talking about the T20 champions and that was Australia. Here we are again on the eve of another semifinal. So the tournaments are coming around thick and fast. "But certainly from an Australian cricket point of view, there has to be planning heading towards World Cups.

They're the premium events. They're the events that everyone across the world plans for, and Australia, unfortunately, just didn't get it right."

Seasons

He drew a parallel between the 2021 and 2022 seasons. "I think strategically, as well, not playing Mitchell Starc, our premium bowler, ahead of that game (against Afghanistan) was really significant as well," he noted.

"Davey Warner, his performance in the World Cup wasn't as special as it was in the last World Cup. He's a premium player. Our expectations, like Babar (Azam), like all the great players, are so high that when they don't quite get it right, they get exposed.

And then they have to raise their game and challenge themselves and become better players and then play better tournament cricket.