On Tuesday February 17, Australia was officially eliminated from the T20 World Cup after Zimbabwe qualified for the Super Eights with the no result against Ireland.
Heading into a group with Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland, and Oman, Australia would have fancied winning at least three games to comfortably qualify for the Super Eights, but losses to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka all but put Australia on the plane home before Zimbabwe’s one point against Ireland made sure of it.
It seems like the reaction from most Aussies has been “Meh!”.
It’s a huge contrast from the ‘25/’26 Ashes, where nearly the whole country was cheering Australia to beat England again, laughing at the latest silly Tweet from Piers Morgan, and sinking the boot into the supposed arrogance and vibes-based tactics of “Bazball”. I’m in a couple of rugby league chat groups with people who have varying interest in cricket. But everyone united during the Ashes, even those still learning the game, and wanted to see Australia win, and became as emotionally invested in the series as they were about their favourite footy teams. And the couple of English people in the groups took the good-natured sledging in fine humour (and gave back as good as they got when appropriate).
So why has the reaction to the World Cup exit been so underwhelming? If you want a proper analysis of the World Cup and Australia’s attitude to T20 in general, listen to Ian Higgins and Sam Perry’s (mostly serious) discussion on The Grade Cricketer episode Should We Care.
But there’s several factors explaining why everyday Aussies haven’t engaged with this World Cup. I’m eliminating either side of the fanbase here: the absolute diehards who will watch every game featuring Australia and will ride the emotions regardless of the format. On the other end are the “purists” who have no time for “hit and giggle cricket” and still pine for the good old days when World Series Cricket was on “proper” TV and not hidden behind a paywall.
The start of the various football seasons has been another factor: the NRL’s Pre-Season Championship (and the Indigenous vs Maori All-Stars game) takes up most of February, the AFL had the return of State of Origin, and the Super Rugby season started mid-February.
And then there’s the Winter Olympics. For casual sports fans, the Olympics is the perfect “stick the TV on and see what’s happening” entertainment. I’ve only been watching bits of it but quite enjoyed the ice hockey, downhill skiing, and speed skating. While the Olympics wouldn’t matter for Sub-Continent viewers who’d be the World Cup’s main audience, for casual Aussie fans the novelty of the Olympics could win out over yet another T20 World Cup (and one where Australia haven’t played well in).
And the format of the World Cup could add to viewer fatigue. Three games a day – every day – for the first two weeks is necessary to get through the group stages as quickly as possible, but for fans not fully engaged the games can blend into one. It can be easier to check the scores on your phone or computer, carry on with your evening, and not bother watching the games even if you have Amazon Prime.
So, is it just bad timing (with the start of the various football seasons and the Olympics), or are Australians apathetic about T20 in general?
While the BBL has done well for over 15 years, its primary market is kids, families, and those getting into cricket. Go to a BBL game and there’s lots of pyrotechnics, “exciting” music (depending on your tastes of course), ground announcers trying to get the crowd engaged, and there’s non-stop entertainment to complement the cricket. And you could argue that Western Australians take their Perth Scorchers as seriously as the West Coast Eagles or Fremantle Dockers. And seeing kids given a chance to press the Power Surge button (and get their moment on TV) sums up the BBL’s appeal: this competition is not for your “traditional” cricket fan.
While most countries value T20 cricket and their local franchise tournaments, there’s still Australians on social media who see T20 as the worst thing ever and a threat to the sanctity of Test cricket. And whenever there’s too many wickets in a day of Test cricket or a Sheffield Shield game, then T20 cricket is the go-to excuse: “Players are too busy playing hit and giggle rubbish to play properly anymore” etc (insert Abe Simpson “old man yells at cloud” meme). And most T20 bilateral series’ in Australia are almost an afterthought, unless you have Fox Cricket/Kayo.
Though Australia have struggled in T20 World Cups (and the 2021 win took everyone by surprise), compare that to the ODI World Cup dominance: the 1987 World Cup was the breakthrough after nearly a decade of pain (and started Australia’s all-format dominance through the ‘90s), 1999 is still seen as one of the best ODI World Cups; 2003 and 2007 was utter dominance; and the 2015 home World Cup was almost perfect. And then there was 2023: a recovery after some early losses (the one advantage of the lengthy league stage); THAT Glenn Maxwell double ton that kept Australia alive; and the surprise win over India in the Final, when Pat Cummins made the bold call to bowl first against an almost invincible Indian team, knowing that the evening dew would blunt India’s spinners and ensured a reasonably easy chase of 240. That World Cup win was widely celebrated by Australians (with a lot of gloating from some cricket clickbait sites). While not quite as iconic as 1999, it wasn’t far off.
The next T20 World Cup is in Australia and New Zealand in 2028 (likely in October). Like the 2022 home tournament, this timeslot will fill the clear air between the end of the NRL and AFL seasons and the start of the Test summer. Will Australians embrace this World Cup? Or will the fatigue of coming out of long football seasons be used as an excuse to not pay attention and wait for the Australian Test summer to start?
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