Australia will most likely have to overcome the reigning men’s Twenty20 world champion West Indies side to have any hope of reaching the knockout stages in this year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The ICC officially unveiled its draw for the tournament on Tuesday, with Australia to get its T20 World Cup campaign with a clash against South Africa on October 23.
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The match against the Proteas will then be followed by a clash against a qualifier team five days later, before a crunch match against England on October 30.
After another match against a qualifier team on November 4, Australia’s final pool game will be against the West Indies on November 6, a match that will likely determine who advances through to the semi-finals. Only two of Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies will qualify.
The clash with the West Indies is one fraught with danger for Justin Langer’s side, given its recent history with the Caribbean side in the shortest format of the game.
Phil Simmons’ side, which boasts a number of T20 specialists, has beaten Australia in seven of its eight most recent T20 meetings, including the 2012 T20 World Cup semi-final and a group match in the 2014 T20 World Cup.
The West Indies have taken out the two most recent men’s T20 World Cups, defeating host nation Sri Lanka in 2012, before a famous win over England in the 2016 final where Carlos Brathwaite lashed three sixes off the final over of the match.
Another wrinkle for Australia is the fact that the T20 World Cup final, currently slated for November 15, is 13 days prior to the scheduled start of the one-off Test match between Australia and Afghanistan in Perth, meaning neither team will have time to quarantine if it qualifies for the final.
Given Australia’s history at T20 World Cups, coach Justin Langer would welcome the headache of having to navigate WA’s quarantine hurdles by virtue of qualifying for the final.
Australia’s men’s team has never won a T20 World Cup since the inception of the tournament back in 2007, with a runner-up performance in 2010 its best effort.
Australia has failed to qualify for the semi-finals in each of the last two iterations of the tournament, and has just one semi-final appearance in 2012 to show for over the last decade.
The men’s T20 World Cup will officially get underway on Sunday, October 17 when Oman takes on Papua New Guinea.