"That was the real lightbulb moment" - Matthew Wade credits defeat to England in T20 World Cup behind Australia's resurgence in the shortest format

Australian keeper-batter Matthew Wade believes that a comprehensive defeat to England in the 2021 T20 World Cup was the turning point in their fortunes in the shortest format. He remarked that the loss prompted the Aussies to radically change their style of play.

Although Australia started their 2021 T20 World Cup campaign with victories over South Africa and Sri Lanka, England flattened them with 50 balls to spare. Batting first, the Aussies collapsed to 21-4 before scraping to 125 in 20 overs.

In reply, England's Jos Buttler smashed a 32-ball 71 to gun down the target in only 11.4 overs. The loss left Australia under pressure going forward as the big margin of defeat affected their net run rate.

Ahead of the T20I series against England, Wade termed that eight-wicket loss in Dubai a "lightbulb moment" as Australia have played a different style of cricket since then.

He was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo:

"The World Cup game, they demolished us and that kind of changed the way we went about playing T20 from that point onward and we have been playing a different style of cricket. Think that was the real lightbulb moment, I suppose, for the team that we needed to change the way we wanted to play."

Australia completed the group stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup by comprehensively beating Bangladesh and the West Indies. Wade and Marcus Stoinis then played crucial roles in the semi-final win over Pakistan in Dubai. The final against New Zealand saw Mitchell Marsh and David Warner carry Australia to an eight-wicket victory.

---

"Really keen to see how we go against England" - Matthew Wade

Matthew Wade. (Image Credits: Getty)

Wade stated that Australia must play aggressively against a gun team like England, who he thinks have set the benchmark in white-ball cricket. The southpaw, who has been in magnificent form, stated:

"It will be good to match-up against them now. We obviously go a little bit harder with the bat, we play seven batters, we know we can get a lot more runs and we know you need that against England, you need to be able to score 180-200.

"I feel like from that point in the World Cup to now we've got a team together that can post big scores and chase down big scores. Really keen to see how we go against England, they've been the benchmark, to be fair, in T20 for a long time."

Australia and England are grouped together in the upcoming T20 World Cup. The two sides will face each other on October 28 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). But the rivals will first take part in a three-match T20I series, starting on Sunday, October 9.

---