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Australia have endured a subdued start to the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. The 5-time World Cup winners have lost both the initial two games and that too by a significant margin. It is the batting which has failed miserably on both occasions and ahead of the team's third match in the competition, former captain Michael Clarke has expressed concerns about the way the team is playing.

3 things you need to know

• Australia have lost both the matches they have played in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023
• They have lost to India and South Africa in the tournament till now
• Australia will next take on Sri Lanka on October 16, 2023

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Australia suffer early debacle in ICC ODI World Cup 2023

Against India, the team bundled out at the score of 199 and against South Africa the score depleted even more. If losing the first game of an ODI World Cup is a rarity in Australia's long cricketing history then the second match against South Africa brought a bigger turmoil. The loss to SA by 134 runs is their worst defeat ever at the game's biggest stage.

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Michael Clarke questions Australia's approach

As the tournament is long, the team will get the chance to restore balance, however, for that they have to pick it off quickly. Two consecutive losses have put Australia in a spot of bother and at the 9th position on the points table. The losses have alarmed even the stalwarts of the yellow outfit and among the many the 2015 World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke is also there, and has dwelled his thoughts on Australia's performance, the hovering threat, i.e., Sri Lanka, and tried to showcase a reality check.

"Sri Lanka are going to be tough in those conditions. We haven't played Pakistan yet. We've got some really tough cricket ahead of us and if we play like this, we are not qualifying," said Clarke.
"I'm more worried about the sub-continent teams... if we're getting shown up like that against South Africa, the spin in the sub-continent teams... we'll be laughable."

"If we're not careful the conversation we've been having for the last three weeks about the Wallabies, in two weeks' time we'll be having that about Australian cricket."

'I'll go back to the Test series in India, our preparation for that tour was disgraceful," Clarke continued "We are not there at the moment and honestly, no disrespect, but we haven't been for a while," he said.
“The Twenty20 World Cup, that's not OK. We're better than that. It's not OK. Leaving England, levelled series, is not OK. That series was ours for the taking. The way we lost to India in India... our preparation for that tournament [was] not OK. Then winning the Test Championship — amazing. So that swept all this other stuff under the carpet. That's not right. Now here, our preparation for this World Cup, we won two games out of seven. We had a brilliant lead-in for this World Cup, an awesome amount of cricket, good competitive cricket. We should have turned up to India in our prime."