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Follow UsAustralia lost the five-match T20I series 4-1 to West Indies before salvaging the pride in the ODI series by winning it 2-1. In the 20-over series, the side looked bereft of ideas, and barring Mitchell Marsh, none had really step up. While it brought questions about Australia's talent depth, head coach Justin Langer has rubbished the claims and suggested that his side only lacked the match practise coming into the series.
"I came out of the T20 series with some real perspective. Our guys hadn't played any cricket for three months and it's so hard to come off no cricket – you can have as many nets as you like, you can have practice games, but you can't (simulate match practice)," Langer said, reported Cricket.com.au.
"The West Indies had come off a series against South Africa, they were a bit more battle-hardened. I thought there were some really good signs, we were close in that series, we were close in that first (T20I). There was some really good signs coming out of that I thought.
"Every single time we have a selection meeting - it's so hard in Australian cricket because there are so many guys you could pick. That's really positive. There's no way I'd say we're behind India and England in terms of talent. We've just got to get them some experience."
Australia's dominance in Test and ODI cricket is well documented but the side has failed to take a plunge in the right direction as far as the T20 format is concerned. The Western Australian has stated that the Big Bash League is doing great in that regard and it is really important in Australia's bid to win the T20 World Cup this year.
"Australian cricket has ticked so many boxes (but) we haven't won a T20 World Cup, we haven't been dominant in that format," Langer told reporters.
"We've gotten better and better, we've had a couple of tough series with some complications and some challenges. But it was only a few months ago that we were ranked No.1 in the world (in T20Is) and we're very proud of that. The Big Bash is a great competition to keep developing our young Australian players, that's really important for Australian cricket.
"I think it's really important the BBL does that for us, like the IPL does for India … That will help us be a very good T20 side when the boys are all available."
