Australia have been knocked out of the 2026 T20 World Cup after Zimbabwe’s clash against Ireland was called off due to rain. 

Ireland have also been eliminated from the tournament after officials in Kandy deemed that no play was possible. 

Both Ireland and Zimbabwe will be awarded one point as a result, with Zimbabwe qualifying for the Super Eight stage for the first time in the history of the men’s T20 World Cup. 

Australia had been hoping for a miracle after they suffered a bruising eight-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka on Monday afternoon. 

Mitchell Marsh’s side had started their World Cup campaign with a victory against Ireland, but later suffered consecutive defeats by Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, leaving them on just two points.  

The Aussie skipper said after Monday’s defeat that his side were in ‘in the lap of the Gods’. But those hopes were washed away by the rain, with Zimbabwe securing second place in Group B behind Sri Lanka, having amassed five points. 

Australia have been knocked out of the 2026 T20 World Cup after Zimbabwe’s clash against Ireland was called off due to rain.

Rain fell in Pallekele on Tuesday ahead of the match. Groundstaff had pulled on the covers but officials deemed it was too wet to play 

The match was called a no-result, with Zimbabwe and Ireland shaking hands as they shared a point each 

To qualify, Australia needed Zimbabwe to lose both of their remaining group-stage matches against Ireland and Sri Lanka.

Marsh’s side then needed to convincingly defeat Oman in their final match on Friday to have a hope of placing second in the group. 

It is also a frustrating result for Ireland, who were eyeing up a late charge to usurp Zimbabwe as second in the group. 

To qualify, Ireland would have needed to have claimed a convincing victory against Zimbabwe today and another win in their final group-stage match against Oman. 

Aussie greats hit out at side’s embarrassing exit 

Australia have vastly underwhelmed during this tournament and questions are now being asked about their preparations ahead of the World Cup as well as their selection calls. 

On Monday, those issues came to the fore again as Pathum Nissanka bludgeoned away a brilliant century off 52 balls, to lead Sri Lanka to victory against the 2021 champions. 

‘A lot of emotions in the room. We have not been at our best,’ Marsh said after the defeat. 

‘Not much to say apart from the fact that Sri Lanka outplayed us.’

The result means Zimbabwe have qualified for the Super Eights for the first time in the history of the T20 World Cup (Pictured: Sikandar Raza) 

Mitchell Marsh (pictured) admitted that his side’s hopes of advancing to the Super Eights on Monday were left ‘in the lap of the gods’ 

Australia had started brightly in the match, with Travis Head and Marsh both bringing up half-centuries. 

The Aussies couldn’t capitalise on that momentum, with top-order batters Cameron Green and Tim David both struggling to break into double figures. 

Their bowling contingent have also struggled throughout the tournament, with Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa both failing to take wickets in their two previous matches.

And now Australia’s selectors are under the microscope, with former Test great Mark Waugh questioning why Steve Smith was flown out to Sri Lanka if the team’s bosses didn’t want to use him. 

Selectors also chose to drop fellow batsman Matt Renshaw for the match, despite  the Brisbane Heat star being Australia’s top scorer during their previous defeat by Zimbabwe, striking 65 runs off 44 deliveries. Renshaw also posted a score of 37 in their tournament-opener against Ireland. 

Sean Abbott has also travelled to Sri Lanka as a reserve player. But he too has been snubbed, even after the medium-fast bowler had taken seven wickets in the last six T20I matches he has bowled in. 

Speaking to SENQ Breakfast, cricket great Waugh claimed that Australia’s World Cup campaign had been ‘doomed’ from the start.

‘I think that the whole campaign was doomed from the get-go with selection issues and injuries,’ Waugh said.

‘I think preparation hasn’t been great. It’s all unfolded probably the way I thought it would, even though we’re in a pretty weak group.

Marsh (left) starred on his return from injury, hitting a half-century, but questions are mounting over his side’s selection choices coming into the tournament

Aussie great Mark Waugh claimed that Steve Smith’s (pictured) omission for Monday’s Sri Lanka clash was a ‘slap in the face’ to the Aussie stand-in Test captain

‘I know you can’t please everybody, and sometimes there are tough calls that can go either way, but to me, the non-selection of Steve Smith in the squad originally is the most baffling non-selection I can remember for ages. I mean, here you’ve got a guy who has looked a class above everybody in the BBL.’

Smith currently holds the fourth-highest career batting average in the BBL at 48.32, and this season, amassed 299 runs across six matches.

‘He’s an outstanding fieldsman. He’s a great player of spin. He should have been first picked, and he wasn’t picked in the squad… then he wasn’t even picked as a replacement, and then they’ve got him over there, and they still haven’t played him.

‘Then you’ve got Matt Renshaw, who looks like he’s one of the few players in form, and he’s left out of the big game last night.

‘T20 cricket is the hardest format to find form in. You need to pick players who are in form, because the batsman doesn’t get time to build his confidence.’

Waugh even went as far as claiming that Smith’s selection snub was a slap in the face to the Aussie star. 

‘Look at the selections. Look at Maxwell, Connolly, Green and Inglis, these guys are all out of form,’ Waugh said.

‘Maxwell and Connolly have not made a run for three months between them.

‘The selectors have their plans in place, but you’ve got to be smart enough to see which players are in form and which players are out of form, and you’ve got to play the percentages a lot better than what our selectors have played at the moment.

‘It’s just been baffling some of the selections, and injuries haven’t helped obviously.

‘I just think they’ve got the selections completely wrong and to have your best player by 100 yards sitting on the sideline in Steve Smith… I think it’s an insult to Steve Smith, to be honest.’