“An insult”: Waugh slams Aussie selectors amid World Cup disaster

Australian cricket legend Mark Waugh has taken aim at the nation’s selectors following the T20 World Cup loss to Sri Lanka overnight.

The Aussies went down to the hosts by eight wickets in Kandy, with Pathum Nissanka’s ton putting Mitch Marsh’s side on the brink of elimination just three games in.

Australia again faltered after a strong opening partnership from Mitch Marsh and Travis Head, leading Waugh to question why Steve Smith, who dominated the recent BBL campaign, wasn’t given an opportunity after being added to the squad on Monday.

After leaving Smith out of the squad entirely originally, the right-hander was flown over as an injury replacement last week but was ultimately left out of the Sri Lanka clash.

Waugh was also baffled that Matt Renshaw was left out after his scores of 37 and 65 in Australia’s first two games, leading him to take aim at George Bailey and Australia’s selectors.

“I think that the whole campaign was doomed from the get-go with selection issues and injuries,” Waugh told SENQ Breakfast.

“I think preparation hasn't been great. It’s all unfolded probably the way I thought it would, even though we’re in a pretty weak group.

“I know you can't please everybody, and sometimes there are tough calls that can go either way, but to me, the non-selection of Steve Smith in the squad originally is the most baffling non-selection I can remember for ages. I mean, here you've got a guy who has looked a class above everybody in the BBL.

“He's an outstanding fieldsman. He's a great player of spin. He should have been first picked, and he wasn't picked in the squad… then he wasn't even picked as a replacement, and then they've got him over there, and they still haven't played him.

“Then you've got Matt Renshaw, who looks like he's one of the few players in form, and he's left out of the big game last night.

“T20 cricket is the hardest format to find form in. You need to pick players who are in form, because the batsman doesn't get time to build his confidence.”

Even if Smith and Renshaw weren’t in the selectors’ original plans, Waugh can’t understand why that stance didn’t change once most of the batting order fell out of form in the lead-up to the tournament.

Waugh went as far as to call Smith’s omission an insult to one of the game’s all-time greats.

“Look at the selections. Look at Maxwell, Connolly, Green and Inglis, these guys are all out of form,” Waugh said.

“Maxwell and Connolly have not made a run for three months between them.

“The selectors have their plans in place, but you've got to be smart enough to see which players are in form and which players are out of form, and you've got to play the percentages a lot better than what our selectors have played at the moment.

“It's just been baffling some of the selections, and injuries haven't helped obviously.

“I just think they've got the selections completely wrong and to have your best player by 100 yards sitting on the sideline in Steve Smith… I think it's an insult to Steve Smith, to be honest.”

Australia will hope that Zimbabwe lose their remaining two games against Ireland and Sri Lanka to have any hope of progressing to the Super 8 stage of the tournament.

They’ll also need to beat Oman in their final group game in Kandy on Saturday morning (AEDT). Listen to every ball of that game LIVE on SEN – your home of cricket.