Australia

There is something poetic almost mystical about Australia getting beaten and dumped out of the ICC Twenty20 Cup. Every non Australian knows that smile they allow themselves when they think of how Ponting’s got to explain this one to the commentator. This time it was even better – he had to give it to the cheerleader general: Ian Chappell (how does he get past immigration). Brilliant.

Australia didn’t lose because of luck or umpiring decisions. They didn’t lose because of injury problems or questionable selections. Australia lost because the team, as a whole, were not good enough. In reality they were thrashed, twice. They were completely bamboozled by Mendis today – it was almost embarrassing (for embarrassing read ‘hilarious’) to watch David Hussey, clueless, trying to get the ball past the 22 yards of cut turf. Without a bit of tail-end wagging, the match would have been a walk-over. The bowling was its predictable self. Brett Lee ran in hard again and committed the same set of errors he did against Gayle on Saturday – with a similar result. Watson looks like a guy who is just glad he made it from his mark to the umpire – if it doesn’t go for a boundary that is a bonus. Johnson – maybe Ricky should consider bowling him his full allocation...

Sri Lanka was excellent. They have easily the best bowling side in the competition: Malinga, Mendis, Murali = Scary. Their batting is not so good, fragile even, but provided Sangakkara stays in they are safe. It was a real delight to watch Mendis – the first time I have seen him. A real wizard.

Can Sri Lanka win it? Not sure, their fragile batting means they will probably come unstuck at some point.