“Devastated group”: Australia on verge of T20 World Cup exit

Australia is on the edge of an early exit in the ICC T20 World Cup after losing to Sri Lanka by eight wickets in Pallekele overnight.

The Aussies were in cruise control with bat in hand when captain Mitch Marsh (54 off 27) and fellow opener Travis Head (56 off 29) had forced their way to 104 without loss in the ninth over.

But things fell apart quickly with the Aussies losing 10/77 to finish on 181, which was clearly not enough.

Sri Lanka’s chase was academic all along, steaming to 2/184 with 12 balls to spare courtesy of a crushing Pathum Nissanka century (the first of the tournament) off 52 deliveries.

Australia has now lost two in a row following the shock defeat to Zimbabwe and this capitulation against Sri Lanka.

They need a minor miracle to advance to the next phase.

The Aussies will be hoping Ireland can beat Zimbabwe in the next Group B fixture, and Zimbabwe loses again to Sri Lanka (on Thursday) before accounting for Oman (on Saturday) if they’re any chance of progressing - and then it would all come down to net run rate if Australia, Zimbabwe and Ireland all end up on four points apiece.

Marsh said his side is feeling it after back-to-back losses and will now have to wait and hope.

“It’s a devastated group,” Marsh said post-match.

“We’re in the lap of the Gods now with the way it’s shaped up.

“There’s a lot of emotion in the rooms right now. We haven’t been at our best.

“So we watch the Zimbabwe-Ireland game with hope, but we’re a disappointed bunch at the moment.”

SEN Cricket’s Tom Morris set the scene in the wake of the “shocking” defeat.

“The Aussies are essentially out of the World Cup,” he said.

“It’s going to be a very, very steep climb if they’re going to make the Super Eights. A shocking loss to Sri Lanka after they were on fire early.

“In order to make the next stage they need to beat Oman by a lot, but before then they need Zimbabwe to lose heavily to Ireland and lose heavily to Sri Lanka and even then the net run rate might not be enough.”

The Zimbabwe v Ireland match takes place from 8:30pm AEDT tonight (Tuesday). If Zimbabwe wins then it will spell the end for the Aussies who next play Oman on Saturday from 12:30am.