Why have World Cup-winning Australia not received grand welcome back home yet

Why have World Cup-winning Australia not received grand welcome back home yet

It has been more than a week since Australia defeated India in Ahmedabad to clinch the 2023 ODI World Cup title, but back home, the celebrations have been rather quiet.

Skipper Pat Cummins returned to Sydney last week to a rather cold reception, without much fanfare at the Sydney airport.

And to add to that, some of Australia’s World Cup stars, including Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa and Josh Inglis have stayed back in India for the ongoing five-match T20I series against the Men in Blue.

The World Cup trophy too is in India and according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Cricket Australia are planning to bring it to Sydney next week.

The downside of this is that Head, Maxwell, Smith, Inglis and Zampa who all are currently in India would miss out on the occasion. The T20I series against India is due to end on 3 December (Sunday).

And when Australia’s home summer kicks off, the players would be going different ways again, making it difficult for Cricket Australia to organize a grand celebration.

While the T20I series against India ends on 3 December, Australia will then take on Pakistan in a three-match Test series starting on 14 December.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, a public celebration has been slated before the first Test in Perth, but due to Big Bash League commitments,  players like Maxwell and Zampa are unlikely to take part.

“A few of the guys are still celebrating over in Vizag,” Alex Carey had said after he arrived in Adelaide.

“I was on the plane with Mitch Marsh to Melbourne and I think everyone probably wanted a few more days together.

“We’ve all split off our own different ways, there’s T20s coming up, some guys are on aeroplanes at the moment getting home as well. I think once we all settle back down and catch up again in Perth or wherever it is, it’ll be nice to talk about it and reflect on it a little bit more. It’s probably pretty odd scheduling now that you look at it, to win a World Cup and a few days later you’re playing again, but the guys over there no doubt will perform really strongly. I think they’ll play pretty fearless cricket,” he added.

The hectic cricketing calendar has made Cricket Australia’s job even difficult. Following Australia’s 1999 World Cup win, Steve Waugh and Co had been welcomed with a ticker-tape parade in Sydney. In 2015, after Australia won their fifth World Cup, there were major celebrations at the Federation Square in Melbourne.