'There’s no common sense in cricket' - Mitchell Starc criticises 'hectic' T20 World Cup schedule

Australia were eliminated from the tournament during the Super Eight stage after losing to Afghanistan and India. All three of their matches in the second phase were on different islands in the Caribbean, with that entire stage lasting four days from start to finish, compared to the group stage which lasted over two weeks.

Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast with Brad Haddin and Adam Peacock, Starc expanded on the tight turnaround times during the Super Eights.

"It was a pretty hectic schedule"

"It’s not the reason [Australia were eliminated] but it didn’t help," said Starc. "It was a pretty hectic schedule for everybody in the Super Eights, I think that was probably a misread, the fact that the front half of the tournament was more spread out and then you get to the Super Eights.

"Travelling around the West Indies is not the easiest thing to do, certainly not to travel home from, door to door that was about 48 hours, for us we played three different games in three different islands which means a flight. We had the two night games and then the third was a day game so it wasn’t the best preparation you could say.

"We had a delayed flight out of St Vincents and then it was a 90 minute drive from the airport to the hotel in St Lucia and I think our bags got in late that night and we had a 10am toss. So it was a quick turnaround. I think the back-end could have been spread out a little bit for everyone, because everyone was in the same boat in terms of play, travel, play."

Starc also spoke about the problems with the pre-seeding system for the tournament. The system meant that where a side finished in their group had no impact on which Super Eight group they played in. Australia finished above England in their group but were put into Group One in the Super Eights alongside India, as the second seed from their initial group. 

"There's no common sense in cricket"

"I didn’t like the pre-seeding," said Starc. "I think that was poorly done. I had no idea about it going into the tournament, I think maybe half our team did and half didn't. That could change things in the Super Eights with where you sit, we finished ahead of England and we ended up where we were pre-seeded on the second side. I’m not saying that’s going to change anything but all of a sudden you’re in a different group.

"And again the argument was because it was so hard to get around the West Indies, so for fans to know where your team was playing. So then why don’t you have the chock-a-block tournament at the front end and have it spread out at the back-end if you’re so worried about people coming out or flights or whatever, you have the extra couple of days. There’s no common sense in cricket let’s be honest."

Starc took five wickets in five games in the tournament at an average of 30.80. He was left out of Australia's pivotal clash against Afghanistan in favour of Ashton Agar, before conceding 45 runs off his four overs against India.

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