New Delhi: Australia enter an ICC event and not as a favourite. Does it sound strange? If it does then let me inform you that the men from down under haven’t won a single match in the ICC Champions Trophy since 2009, that’s when they actually last lifted the tournament.
Of a team which has history to ace ICC events, boasting of six World Cups, one T20 World Cup, one World Test Championship and also two Champions Trophies, the latter one is considered to be a bogie tournament for Australia, as one likes to call. the
The Champions Trophy was introduced as ICC KnockOut Trophy in 1998, wherein each match was a straightaway knockout from the first game itself. Australia never prevail from the first game in the first two editions in 1998 and 2000 before they made two semifinal appearances in 2004 and 2006 tournaments when it was rebranded as the Champions Trophy later.
Australian men’s team won two successive Champions Trophy titles during its golden era under Ricky Ponting in 2006 and 2009. And in the last two editions in 2013 and 2017, the team hasn’t qualified for the semifinal stage, suffering three defeats and three matches turned to be without a result.
It might be ought to suffice that the current eight-team event isn’t where the Australian juggernaut can be seen as a formidable aspect.
Australia’s troubled road to Champions Trophy 2025
Come to Champions Trophy 2025 hosted by Pakistan, Australia’s campaign, even before it started, has been hit by the absence of key players. Pertinently the most complemented pace troika of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. This was further rocked by the announcement from all-rounder Marcus Stoinis to retire from the One-Day International format. Mitchell Marsh, the other all-rounder, won’t be available to participate due to back injury.
Australia will only field eight of the 15 members from the 2023 victorious World Cup. On top of that, Australia have lost their last two ODI series, including the recent 2-0 against Sri Lanka in the run up to the Champions Trophy. To speak precisely, the six-time world champions have won seven out of 13 matches after lifting the title in Ahmedabad in November 2023, though their win-loss ratio of 1.166 is better than England (0.400) and South Africa (0.400), the two of the three teams they will face in Group B.
Nevertheless, the moot point is the decisions of players like Mitchell Starc opting out of the tournament dur to personal reasons or Stoinis’ sudden retirement right before the tournament. Is that an indication of the team sensing irrelevancy to the Champions Trophy. Or in the broader version, the tournament itself doesn’t look formidable fpr any other countries other than India? Or maybe Pakistan (as they host it and also they are the defending champions).
Steve Smith the captain: Can he deliver the unthinkable?
The brighter side to all the series of developments that have transpired in Australian cricket is to watch Steve Smith back in the captaincy role in a major event. The last time the Sydney-born player was in charge of the Australians in a big-ticket event, incidentally it was in the 2017 Champions Trophy, a winless campaign (two of their matches impacted by the poor weather in England).
Smith has led the team in 61 One-Day International matches, having won 31 of them to hold a decent 50.81 per cent win record. He only led the team in two major events with the other one being the 2016 T20 World Cup, a format he was very inexperienced of leading at the international stage at that juncture. Smith’s elevation to T20I captain was the unceremonious exit of Aaron Finch after Australia lost the T20I series 3-0 to India on home soil, though the latter was reappointed in the role.
Much of the fact that Smith never led Australia in any major ICC tournament, though he has been part of their four title-winning campaigns under three different captains, has to be attributed to the Cape Town ball-tampering saga in 2018. In the last four years, the star Australian batter has been a makeshift captain whenever Pat Cummins has remained absent from the squad.
Under Smith, Australia has won all three of their ODI series since March 2023 – against India (2-1), West Indies (3-0), and England 3-2). He is known to be a tactical captain in Asia after equaling the record of Ponting with the recent 2-0 Test series win in Sri Lanka to make it five Test wins – the joint-most for an Aussies skipper in Asia.
For the uninitiated, the success of a captain in sub-continent is only limited or the reverence is done in the red-ball version. A leader in the longer white-ball format will most certainly be judged for how many World Cup and Champions Trophy he/she has delivered. No wonder why Ricky Ponting and Meg Lanning illuminate that list atop.
If anytime then this should be the best chance for Steve Smith the captain to ensure that he ends the career as a title-winning skipper. The very close he came was in the 2017 IPL season when now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants settled for the runners-up spot by the narrowest margins of one run. He is someone known to have the best field placements and allow players the free hand.
A look at Australia’s unfancied squad
Well the interesting fact that Australia will need more than Smith’s captaincy, which is for the bowlers to showcase their brilliance in order to come into the spotlight for future prospects given that the likes of Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood would set their international career in dusk at some point.
The cream of the batting group will be Travis Head, Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marnus Labuschagne and the versatile Josh Inglis has a point to prove. The opening slot in the absence of Mitchell Marsh will be a big question with Travis Head being sure shot at one end.
The recent options explored in the Sri Lanka series were Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk with neither of them showing a promising start in the wafer-thin chances provided to them. In the latest episode of The ICC Review, Ponting has reckoned that Smith must open the innings in a very unconventional move. Surprisingly, the Australian captain, never in his 151 ODI innings, has opened the batting order in the 50-over format.
The inexperienced pace attack can be led by Sean Abbot (28 ODI appearances) with Nathan Ellis being touted as the other frontline pacer to open the attack with the senior man. Another question is whether the team will field a second spinner to complement leg-breaker Adam Zampa in the middle overs. Tanveer Sangha of New South Wales is a viable option for the role. But then would Australia cut down a pacer for him is something to look for. The team can use their part-timers in Maxwell, Head or Labuschagne to join Zampa in tandem.
Spencer Johnson could pip the Big Bash experience campaigner Ben Dwarshuis to fill in for Starc’s place for a left-arm quick. Aaron Hardie, who has now played 13 ODIs since September 2023, will have to fill in the shoes of Cummins, more in the batting than the one demanding for his bounce variations in the middle.
Australia squad for Champions Trophy: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey (wk), Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa
Australia Champions Trophy fixtures in Group B
February 22, Saturday – Australia vs England, 4th Match – Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
February 25, Tuesday – Australia vs South Africa, 7th Match – Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi
February 28, Friday – Afghanistan vs Australia, 10th Match – Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Australia will enter the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy as an unfancied side, facing absences of core players from the squad and recent series losses. Captain Steve Smith’s leadership will be crucial, but the team’s inexperienced pace attack and lack of key bowlers pose significant challenges. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
