Andrew McDonald slams 'entirely false' narrative after shock World Cup exit

Australian cricket coach Andrew McDonald has hit back at suggestions the team does not take T20 cricket as seriously as the other two formats.

It comes following their shock elimination from the T20 World Cup, after losses to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in the group stage.

An out of form side featured out of form batsmen and an understrength bowling line-up unable to take wickets.

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Zimbabwe would ultimately knock off Sri Lanka to win the group, though the two teams advanced while Australia must now play a dead rubber against Oman.

But McDonald has hit back at any suggestions that the tournament wasn't a priority for the team, coming off an intense Ashes summer.

"I think we won the one [T20 World Cup] in 2021 and we haven't been as successful since that point in time, and the expectations on the Australian cricket team are high and rightfully so," McDonald told the Sydney Morning Herald said in Sri Lanka.

"But to sit back and say that we're prioritising other formats or other versions of the game and not the T20 World Cup is entirely false."

The likes of Mark Waugh and Ian Healy have criticised the Aussie selectors for going all-in on a power-hitting line-up in difficult subcontinent conditions.

McDonald disagrees, saying they picked numerous batsmen with Test experience who have multiple gears to their game.

"I think it's unfair to say that we've put all our eggs in the basket of power when you talk about Cameron Green and Travis Head and Josh Inglis and Mitch Marsh," he said.

"And I name those players because they've played Test cricket. So I think if you're playing Test cricket, you do have the skills to combat most conditions.

"So I think people will easily say that we invested in the power, but we felt like we had the balance across that batting unit to get the job done in these conditions."

The veteran coach also isn't blaming the performance on the absence of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. The latter has retired from the format and the first two are battling injuries.

McDonald says the group selected was good enough, they simply struggled for form when it mattered most.

"We've had a lot of players not performing at once, which for this group has been rare," he said.

"I truly believe that the players that were here were good enough, and it shouldn't be about the players that we're missing. It should be looking at the performances of what we've been able to put out here, and we're disappointed in those and we need to own those and the critique is fair and reasonable.

"We've got a pretty sort of devastated group, it's fair to say. It's a little bit of a rare situation we're in. We're usually alive coming to these points in time, but not to be. And yeah, we've put ourselves in this position."