Not so fast: Australia’s pace worked but spin will be vital at T20 World Cup | Geoff Lemon

In Australia, you don’t so much pick an XI as fill gaps around those who aren’t allowed to be left out

When it comes to having a cricket philosophy, Australia’s is marked by a deep stubbornness on any number of matters that, depending on the case, can range from endearing to aggravating. At its best, it reflects loyalty, determination, self-belief; at its worst, hierarchical obeisance and damaging inflexibility. At its core is a belief in the exceptionalism of its players.

Getting overly technical or detailed with tactics or selection is treated as emasculatory. Even worse if other nations have set the lead, given their cricket is to Australians naturally inferior. The mindset is explicable given the decades of Australia winning in bulk, to the point that it no longer mattered whether it happened because of or in spite of the prevailing attitude – the correlation was deemed causative enough.

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