Captain Mitchell Marsh crashed a belligerent 64 off 33 balls as Australia finished their dismal T20 World Cup with a nine-wicket romp past Oman in Kandy on Friday.

Marsh reached his fifty inside the six-over power play and hit four sixes and seven fours in all as Australia, having bowled out Oman for 104, raced to 108-1 with more than 10 overs to spare.

Fellow opener Travis Head made 32 and Josh Inglis 12 not out but the win against a 20th-ranked Oman side will be scant consolation after a chaotic campaign in Sri Lanka.

A depleted Australia failed to make the second phase for only the second time in the event’s history after defeats to Zimbabwe and co-hosts Sri Lanka.

“As I’ve said a few times, it’s a bitterly disappointed change room,” said Marsh.

“Like every team, we built towards this for two years. Unfortunately, in a couple of key games, we just didn’t play our best cricket.”

Australia arrived at the tournament after being drubbed 3-0 in Pakistan and without injured fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

They then lost Marsh for the first two games after he was hit during practice and suffered testicular bleeding.

Australia’s acerbic media did not hold back in their criticism after their fate was sealed when Zimbabwe’s match against Ireland was washed out on Tuesday, citing selection “stuff-ups”.

Chief among those was sticking with the woefully out-of-form Cameron Green and promoting Tim David to number four as a “power hitter” when he had not played since December because of a hamstring injury.

Glenn Maxwell, so often a match-winner with the bat in the past, struggled for runs and the Australians dearly missed the experience of Cummins and Hazlewood.

Matt Renshaw was Australia’s top run scorer in the first two group matches, but he was bewilderingly dropped for the must-win Sri Lanka clash on Monday.

After Marsh won the toss and opted to bowl, Australia’s Xavier Bartlett took a wicket with the first ball of the Oman innings, bowling Aamir Kaleem.

Bartlett took 2-27 and Adam Zampa 4-21 as Oman were routed for 104 in 16.2 overs with Wasim Ali top scoring on 32.

“It’s been a really tough few days. There are some pretty quiet voices around the group right now,” said Zampa, who was named player of the match.

“We’re feeling flat about the World Cup ending so early for us. I’m pretty disappointed overall. I’m certainly not ready to be flying home tomorrow.”

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Batting great Babar Azam was moved down the batting order for Pakistan’s final T20 World Cup group game against Namibia for scoring too slowly, said head coach Mike Hesson on Friday.

Azam, who is the highest run-scorer in T20 international history with 4,571 runs, was moved down the order for the must-win game against Namibia as Pakistan racked up 199-3 and secured a place in the Super Eights by 102 runs.

The 2009 champions face New Zealand in Colombo on Saturday in the opening match of the second phase.

“I think Babar is well aware that his strike rate in the power play in the World Cup is less than 100 and that’s clearly not the role we think we need,” Hesson told reporters after Pakistan’s final practice session on Friday was washed out by rain.

Pakistan left out Azam for the same reason at last year’s Asia Cup and even after a dismal showing in the Big Bash League, he was still selected for the T20 World Cup.

“We brought Babar back in for a specific role post the Asia Cup,” said Hesson.

“We’ve got plenty of other options who can come in and perform that role towards the end.

“Babar is actually the first to acknowledge that.

“He knows that he’s got a certain set of skills that the team requires and there are certain times where other players can perform that role more efficiently.”

Hesson also defended dropping pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi after he conceded 101 runs in three matches, including 31 in two overs against India.

“We made a call that Salman Mirza was coming in for Shaheen, and he bowled incredibly well,” said Hesson.

“To be fair, he was probably really unlucky not to be playing the second and third games.” Hesson was wary of Pakistan’s opponents on Saturday.

“New Zealand have played a huge amount in the subcontinent in recent times, so we have to play at our best. “

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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Friday that the Green Shirts would tour Bangladesh in March for a three-match One Day International (ODI) series.

In a press release, the PCB said, “Pakistan men’s cricket team will tour Bangladesh for a three-match ODI series, the Bangladesh Cricket Board confirmed on Friday.”

It said that the team would arrive in Bangladesh on March 9 and hold a training session the next day, ahead of the opening ODI against the hosts on March 11.

The board added that the second ODI would be played on March 13, while the third and final match was scheduled for March 15.

It added that all three matches would be played at the Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.

“This will be Pakistan’s second tour of Bangladesh since July 2025. Pakistan last toured Bangladesh for a three-match T20I series in July, which the hosts won 2-1. Meanwhile, Bangladesh toured Pakistan for a three-match T20I series in May/June last year, which the Salman Ali Agha-led side won 3-0,” the PCB said.

The development comes after Pakistan announced it would boycott the match against India during the ongoing T20 World Cup. The decision came after Bangladesh’s request to shift its matches out of India was rejected amid tensions between the two countries, which led to the team being replaced by Scotland in the tournament.

The situation ultimately led to a delegation from the International Cricket Council visiting Pakistan, after which it was announced that Pakistan would play the match against India.

However, the ICC also announced that Bangladesh would not face any penalty for opting out of the tournament and would also host an ICC event prior to the Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2031.

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