Will England and Australia's Twenty20 Hopes Be Reduced to Ashes?

England and Australia are on the brink of elimination from the World Twenty20 before it has barely begun. It will soon be suggested that both are too busy obsessing about the Ashes to concentrate fully on 20-over cricket.

"That's massive nonsense,'' said David Hussey, one of a sizeable group of Australian Twenty20 players who will not be involved in the Ashes. "This is a huge tournament. We have never won it and we want to win it. All the boys are fully focused on winning this competition.

"My ultimate stake is to play Test cricket. But I'm not in the Ashes squad so it doesn't directly concern me. We haven't really talked about the Ashes yet.''

But Hussey recognised the pre-Ashes psychological blow if either England or Australia go out after a shock defeat in their opening game. "Hopefully England are about to bow out,'' he said. "The Australians will all be supporting the Pakistanis I guess, similar to England supporting the Sri Lankans tomorrow afternoon.''

The prospect that both England and Australia could fail to reach the Super Eights is the tournament's worse nightmare. It would drain the energy from the World Twenty20, much as India's premature exit reduced the appeal of the last World Cup. The only consolation is that the World Twenty20 had a tight schedule that will help to maintain its momentum.

Australia would be left with a quandary of how best to fill their time before their first Ashes warm-up against Sussex at Hove on June 24. There would be little advantage to be gained from asking non-Ashes players to play a couple of hastily arranged four-day matches. It could be even more damaging to let the Australian Test players who are already here idly kick their heels.

Defeat to the West Indies with 25 balls to spare has inflicted serious damage on Australia's comparative run rate. The task will be not just to beat Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge tomorrow evening, but to beat them well. They will be grateful that the Lankans have been unconvincing in their warm-up games.

"We've got our backs against the wall and Australians love being in that situation,'' Hussey said. "I remember in the last tournament Australia lost to Zimbabwe in the first round and ended up getting to the semi-finals, so hopefully this time we can go one better.''

He will be back on the ground where he has performed with such distinction as Nottinghamshire's overseas player. Lord's will be shocked by how much he loves it. "As far as I'm concerned, Trent Bridge is the home of English cricket,'' he said.

At least Australia could excuse their opening defeat, as Hussey put it, by the fact that they "hit Chris Gayle in tip-top form". Gayle's matchwinning display just illustrated the general belief that any favorite can lose in Twenty20 if they are suddenly met by a great innings or a great over. Quite how that explains England's defeat against the Dutch, who matched them consistently, man for man, for three hours, is another matter.

The Indian take on all this is highly self-congratulatory. It begins with the theory that England and Australia have not adapted quickly enough to Twenty20 and normally ends with further praise of the magnificence that is IPL.

Hussey had a surfer's take on Australia's task. "It is an opportunity to glide through the tournament like a shark,'' he said.