Australia, insurance, car, home, live, holidays

Team captains pose for a selfie before the Men’s T20 World Cup.Credit:Getty

For Australia,one of the whinges I hear most often from people who can still name the 1974-75 or the 1999 or the 2006-07 Australian teams by heart (including the 12th man),is that they flounder about trying to name the current squad. This is a problem of perception more than reality. Australia are in the middle of one of their more successful and stable eras,mixing an attractive style,some interesting personalities,and plenty of silverware in the cabinet. They are the T20 World Cup holders and,in the Test arena,have outplayed every opponent except India. But somehow,all of this is not sticking to the sides.

It has been very welcome to see the T20 pace bowling strategy solidify around Pat Cummins,Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Selectors finally found the heart of the team in the most obvious place (behind the left chest wall).Naming Cummins one-day skipper,uniting it with the Test role,was similarly wise and shouldn’t have felt so adventurous.

Warner is also integral to this continuity. He is now the only Australian batter with a place in all three formats,and if champion batters have always been the symbolic leaders of Australian cricket,then Warner has that lower-case ‘c’ beside his name.

What’s at stake in this event goes beyond inward-looking Australian anxieties. On Sunday,weather permitting,Melbourne will host a game of geopolitical significance:Pakistan and India play each other,which they cannot do on either Pakistani or Indian soil. This game will draw something like a billion viewers,and with luck a few Australians will join in and get revved up. It’s a World Cup.

Forecast rain threatens to put a damper on a pair of blockbuster T20 World Cup matches this weekend.Credit:Simon Letch

I expect that,like the Tokyo Olympic Games,the public will catch on and the quality of the sport will do the rest. As a competition,T20 World Cups are usually wide open,and the form guide for this one is encouragingly useless. It’s hard for an outcome to be predictable when no two pundits predict the same thing.

For the Australian cricket scene,it feels like there’s a lot at stake. We are entering November,but it’s not just the rain stopping us from feeling that summer is around the corner. We seem to have these conversations every year:can cricket do it for us any more?

International cricket has been bruised by COVID,not so much for the loss of events as the loss of atmosphere,the loss of a sense of continuity. It might be a temporary thing. Or there might have been a permanent shift that the temporary thing just masked for a couple of years.

I wonder if,by the time this World Cup ends in a month or so,the cricket audience will be really involved. The data will show they are watching and attending games,and there is no doubt numbers will depict health. But “engagement” is such a hollow word when quantified. Will Australians be drawn in more deeply,truly engaged – that is,revolving around a common experience,knowing where their team is,knowing who is playing for them,knowing what they’re playing for;or will cricket be just another alternative to Netflix? Or,oh yeah,Facebook Live,whatever that is,or YouTube,where you think you’re watching sport but really you’re just a sitting duck for those compelling cat videos.

For men’s cricket on Australian soil,this World Cup is not only about getting people watching again. It’s about getting them caring.

Watch the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now.

Sports news,results and expert commentary.Sign up for our Sport newsletter.

License this article