Cricket legend Matthew Hayden has taken aim at selectors following Australia’s nightmare T20 World Cup campaign.
Hayden has said there was “stubbornness” and “denial” when it came to certain decisions, and compared it to England’s recent failed Ashes campaign.
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“The reaction back home has been rather heavy because I think we’ve been sold down the stream a little bit in terms of our selection and how we’ve gone about preparing for this T20 World Cup,” Australia’s champion opener said on the BBC’s Test Match Special.
“It sort of smacks of England, and their questions in the Ashes preparation — this kind of self-fulfilling prophecy of ‘we’re OK’ and ‘no, don’t worry’. It’s a mix of denial and maybe even just mismanagement.
“We enjoy coming to countries like Sri Lanka but we just haven’t prepared for what we’ve seen. We’ve picked power hitters in finesse type conditions.
“(It’s) almost like stubbornness but there is a plan A. And that plan A is called power. And it’s a day and age of power. In India, that’s certainly the case.
“These conditions (in Sri Lanka), though, are different.
“They’re not such pure batting surfaces, and that requires methodology. It almost requires a bit more of an old-school approach and way of thinking about the game that allows you to stay in the contest.”
The most controversial call was undoubtedly to overlook veteran star Steve Smith, and then, when he was finally included in the squad, not to pick him to play.
But now national selector Tony Dodemaide faced reporters and addressed the Smith snub among other decisions.
“It’s really disappointing the way the tournament has rolled out,” Dodemaide said.
“But we will need some time, and take some time, once we finish our last commitment – it’s important that we finish strongly on Friday against Oman – then we’ll get back and analyse it fully.”
Dodemaide said Smith was picked as “cover” and cover only.
“We see him primarily as at the top and that’s where he’s come into the squad as cover for that area,” Dodemaide said
“He was only really available for game three, which was the game that we had our best performed pairing, which is (Marsh) and Head, who did extremely well.
“If we got more moving parts and we had to think of things differently, then that’s a different story, but certainly now Steve still retains his place as cover for that opening position.”
Hayden was also critical of the decision to keep sputtering allrounder Cam Green in the team when Matthew Renshaw (Australia’s best run scorer in tournament) was dropped for the clash with Sri Lanka.
Green was out for just three (stumped) in the loss to Sri Lanka after he made a duck against Zimbabwe.
“Green has just looked awful with the bat,” Hayden said.
“He looks woody, he looks tinny, he looks like he’s just a man with no confidence, and I’d be very surprised if that’s not exactly the case.
“Matt Renshaw has come with no baggage to this tournament. He actually had a really good series back home in Australia in the ODIs. He’s been a man that’s been very ill treated – there’s no doubt he should be in the Test team too.”
But Dodemaide again defended the selectors’ decision.
“His record has been very, very good for us in 2025 (he averaged 43 across eight T20Is matches), and pre-tournament in Pakistan he was our best batter,” Dodemaide said.
“Cam’s still developing his game across all formats and that needs to be balanced with what he can do physically.
“He’s a very fine player who is important for us in all formats, but in terms of nuancing his commitments from time-to-time we’ll look at that in more depth as part of the wider review.”
