Australia’s Matthew Renshaw, left, plays a shot during the T20 World Cup cricket match between Australia and Zimbabwe in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Australian batsman Matt Renshaw said the pitch at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium was not the reason for their 23-run loss to Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup, adding that teams from the subcontinent are not complaining about the conditions when they tour Australia.Renshaw scored 65 off 44 balls but Australia were bowled out for 146 while chasing 170 against Zimbabwe.“I think that’s just the nature of cricket. A team from the subcontinent will come to Australia and not complain about bounce or pace,” Renshaw told the post-match press conference.
“We weren’t good enough,” says Australia’s Matt Renshaw after the 23-run defeat by Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup.
“It’s just the way cricket is today. You have to be able to go through different surfaces.”He said the transition from hard and bouncy tracks in Australia during the Big Bash League to slower surfaces did not pose a problem.“Yes, the wickets in Australia during the Big Bash are quite true – they bounce a lot. You go to India and if there are other wickets on the other side of the tournament, there are probably higher scores, shorter boundaries.“The boundaries here (Premadasa) are quite big so it’s just cricket. But yeah, it’s probably just trying to adjust the conditions as best we can so that when we get into those conditions we know what the game plan is so we know how we’re best suited.” Renshaw said.He also credited the Zimbabwean bowlers for following their plans and making the chase difficult.“Yeah, it’s probably quite difficult to chase 170 out there. They bowled really well early on, took a few early wickets and felt like every time we created some momentum, the partnership with Maxim (Glenn Maxwell) was obviously important, but they couldn’t get enough momentum in there to catch up and there was just too much to knock on.”Renshaw said Marcus Stoinis, who was batting at No. 7 after injuring his finger while fielding, could otherwise go up the order. However, he said that was no excuse for the defeat and admitted that the team fell short on the day.“Probably Marcus Stoinis was going to bat higher, he got that shot on the finger, we don’t know how bad it is, I’m sure the medical staff will treat it, but yes, it was today, but yes, we just weren’t good enough today.”“They bowled really well, batted really well, got 170 on the board, had wickets in hand to bat at the end and took early wickets. So it’s always tough in T20s when that happens,” Renshaw added.