MELBOURNE: Australia’s group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup stands as one of the most calamitous campaigns in the team’s limited-overs history, and a rebuild looms for the former white-ball titans.

Having entered the global showpiece with injuries, players out of form and scant preparations, Mitchell Marsh’s team were embarrassed by Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka before a washed-out match sealed their elimination on Tuesday.

Once respected for their big-tournament prowess, the 2021 champions and six-times 50-over World Cup winners appeared bereft without the leadership and bowling quality of their big three pacemen, with Mitchell Starc retired from T20 internationals and Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood sidelined with injuries.

The Australians are now left with a dead rubber against cricket minnows Oman and plenty of questions from former players and pundits over selections and team management.

“Massive challenges lie ahead and this campaign spells out in big bold pen that Australia is not as well stocked as it thinks it is,” local cricket writer Robert Craddock wrote in the Courier Mail on Wednesday.

Olympic ambitions

Australia host the next T20 World Cup in 2028 but will be eyeing a bigger prize a few months before that when cricket is reintroduced to the Olympics in LA.

While the final qualifying system for the six-nation Olympic tournament is yet to be signed off, Australia have done themselves no favours.

World rankings are expected to decide automatic qualifying, and Australia’s will take a hit from their early elimination.

Oceania rivals New Zealand, who qualified for the World Cup’s Super Eight phase, will be emboldened and may end up in a position to snatch Australia’s spot at the Games.

In the meantime, Australia will confront what appears to be a sign of their sporting mortality as a slew of their ageing champions struggle for fitness and approach the end of their careers.

Hazlewood has been sidelined for months after Achilles and hamstring injuries, while test and ODI captain Cummins played only a single Ashes test since the West Indies tour in mid-2025 while struggling with a lower back problem.

Master batter Steve Smith, drafted into the World Cup squad as a late injury replacement but not picked for a game, has declared he wants an Olympic medal in LA.

But he will be 39 when the Games start.

Other senior players are of a similar vintage, including all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell, who have been mainstays of Australia’s white-ball dominance.

While selectors have made efforts to bring in a new generation of players, few have performed at a consistently high level for fans to feel assured about the future.

The pace trio of Nathan Ellis, Ben Dwarshuis and Xavier Bartlett have come in for rough treatment from batters at the World Cup, while all-rounder Cooper Connolly’s miserable run with the bat continued in Sri Lanka.

T20 cricket has never been Australia’s biggest priority, and their early exit from the World Cup may not trigger the kind of root-and-branch review that an Ashes defeat would bring.

However, with the Olympics and a home World Cup on the horizon, Australia has no choice but to kick off a rebuild for a white-ball team whose aura has all but disappeared.

One week after suffering a fractured left hand, North Carolina star Caleb Wilson is learning to play with a cast on his non-shooting hand and is inching toward returning “soon,” coach Hubert Davis said.

Davis said Wilson, who suffered the injury in a loss to Miami on Feb. 10, has been a supportive teammate as the No. 16 Tar Heels make their push toward Selection Sunday.

“Caleb, he is great,” Davis said Monday night on his semiweekly radio show. “I think if I said ‘OK,’ I think he would play with his cast on or his splint. I think he would. He’s just champing at the bit to come back because obviously he loves to play, but he loves his teammates and he loves playing here.”

Added Davis: “He’ll be back on the floor soon, so that’ll be great.”

Wilson, who is averaging 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds, has set a UNC freshman record by scoring in double figures in all 24 games he’s played this season. Before the Miami loss, he scored 23 points in UNC’s home win over rival Duke on Feb. 7.

Wilson, a projected top-five pick in the 2026 NBA draft per ESPN, left the game against Miami after suffering the injury before returning in the second half. He scored just 12 points, his lowest output of the season.

Davis said they didn’t know the severity of the injury until the team returned to Chapel Hill and an MRI revealed the fracture.

The university on Thursday said Wilson is out “indefinitely.”

Davis said Wilson is already in practice hoping to come back soon. He credited the freshman with avoiding a “woe is me” attitude and instead being focused on supporting his team.

“He did the exact opposite,” Davis said. “He’s in practice. He’s dribbling with his right hand. He’s in the huddles.”

Before Wilson’s injury, North Carolina was ranked ninth in adjusted offensive efficiency since Jan. 3, according to barttorvik.com. The win over Duke capped a five-game winning streak for a UNC team that was biting its nails on Selection Sunday last year but should avoid a similar fate this year, depending on Wilson’s status.

UNC defeated Pitt 79-65 on Saturday without both Wilson and standout Henri Veesaar. Davis said he watched the film of that game and praised Wilson’s demeanor on the sideline, which he said gave his team a boost in a game with a short-handed roster.

UNC will again be without Wilson and Veesaar (lower-body injury) for Tuesday night’s game against rival NC State.

North Carolina’s slate includes four upcoming matchups against top-35 KenPom teams, including a rematch with Duke in Durham on March 7 in the regular-season finale for both teams.

“You will not have a better player, person and teammate than Caleb,” Davis said. “It’s just impossible. There is just no way you can do it. What a great example of when things weren’t particularly going his way in regards to his hand, he’s still a great teammate.”

MANHATTAN, Kan. — P.J. Haggerty scored 34 points, Nate Johnson had a career-high 33, and Kansas State cruised past Baylor 90-74 on Tuesday night in the debut of Wildcats’ interim head coach Matthew Driscoll.

Kansas State (11-15, 2-11 Big 12) never trailed and held a double-digit lead for most of the second half to end a six-game skid. Driscoll replaced previous head coach Jerome Tang, who was fired Sunday night before completing his fourth season.

“Coach Driscoll and staff did a great job,” Bears coach Scott Drew said of his opponent. “I hated playing them right now.”

Johnson’s layup gave the Wildcats a 21-point lead with 10:39 left. He surpassed his previous career-best 31 points on a dunk with 1:37 remaining.

Haggerty made 15 of 23 shots from the field. Johnson was 11-of-16 shooting and made five of the Wildcats’ eight 3-pointers. Johnson also had nine assists and matched a career-high with six steals.

“I did not come to Kansas State to be the head coach,” Driscoll said. “Coach Tang and I are thicker than thieves. He is an amazing human being. He did amazing things at Kansas State.”

Isaac Williams IV scored 16 points to lead Baylor (13-13, 3-10), which has lost four straight. Tounde Yessoufou added 14 points for the Bears. Cameron Carr chipped in with 12 points and Dan Skillings Jr. scored 11. The Bears made only three of their 24 3-point attempts.

Johnson made four 3s and scored 16 points, and Haggerty added 13 points to help K-State build a 41-34 halftime advantage. The Wildcats made 5 of 11 from long range, and Baylor missed 11 of 12 attempts from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

“I’m super proud of our staff and the way in which they dealt with this,” Driscoll said, “and obviously the players. Their resiliency and their ability to overcome a lot.”

Williams’ layup pulled the Bears to 66-57 with 8:20 left, but they didn’t get closer.

Driscoll will look to improve to 2-0 Saturday, when Kansas State faces No. 13 Texas Tech.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.