There has been a significant pile-on from many former Australian greats on national cricket selectors following the Twenty20 World Cup debacle in Sri Lanka although underperforming players need to carry most of the can.

I didn’t want to mention this again but, the defence of Steve Smith’s omission from the squad is not only comical, it sadly demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the flexible and adaptable nature of 20-over cricket.

Australia didn’t make it past the group stage of the Twenty20 World Cup.Credit: AP

Maybe Mark Waugh is right, a specific T20 selector is required on the panel. Mark himself filled that role in the past so he has working knowledge of what it takes to be effective in choosing the best XI at the right time in changing environments.

There is no doubt that an Australian team minus Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will be worse off. So the next crop of bowlers should come from the best of the BBL, which had just concluded as Australia took on Pakistan in the warm-ups. You can’t get much more contemporary than that.

So why wasn’t Sean Abbott, with his change of pace and batting ability, warming the pine at the World Cup? In the slow bowling spot Matthew Kuhnemann has been outstanding but overlooked for the underperforming Cooper Connolly. Loyalty is one thing, ignoring the bleeding obvious is something else. Cameron Green lost his bowling radar before the Ashes and hardly bowls in T20 but at least he bothered the scorers in the Lahore series, although he didn’t look comfortable once the Sri Lankan spinners came on.

In defence of the critics, these issues were spotted before the Cup started. I guess one consolation in losing to Zimbabwe is that the Africans have now beaten Sri Lanka as well, so kudos to them. Zimbabwe is now looking the goods for a semi-final berth with the likes of Sikandar Raza, Blessing Muzarabani, Wellington Masakadza and Brian Bennett leading the way.

Tim David trudges off after being dismissed against Zimbabwe.Credit: Getty Images

The specialist selector theory has merit. The corollary is that it is time the Australian T20 team had a specialist coach.

Head coach Andrew McDonald has a very full schedule and from August Australia have a hectic Test program, that coupled with the decline in the T20 team’s performances points to some reimagining of the 20-over pathway.

© Brisbane Times