T20 Cricket World Cup: Australia too short based on current form
Published:Australia can never be written off through simply being Australia, but they may struggle to make it out of the group stages of the T20 World Cup, let alone win the tournament.
It is somewhat remarkable that Australia are as short as 6/1 to improve on their performance of beaten finalists to England two years ago.
They were beaten 4-0 in their recent T20 series in England and bowled out for just 89 in their latest series with Pakistan.
Their latest form in T20 is so bad that in terms of the ICC rankings, they enter the tournament as the worst team in Group B, even below supposed minnows Ireland.
This has to be taken with a pinch of salt given that Ireland have been winning against fellow lesser nations and Australia remain favourites at 4/5 to win their group, which also includes the West Indies.
From a batting perspective, Australia still have the talent to mix it with the best, with Shane Watson, David Warner and David Hussey in particular able to register big scores.
However, it is the bowling where the bigger problems lie and a failure to take regular wickets limits the amount of pressure that can be built on the opposition.
Pat Cummins has developed into a useful asset, while a return from injury for Clint McKay could be of value given his ability to vary pace.
But the lack of a truly dangerous spinner is a worry, especially on sub-continent pitches.
Meanwhile, the relative inexperience of captain George Bailey is another potential problem, taking over the captaincy from Cameron White earlier this year in his first ever international game.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
