Does Australia's flop matter?

The Champions Trophy hasn’t had many runs, but it has had something more precious: upsets. South Africa fell to New Zealand, and now Australia have gone down to West Indies.

The Aussies showed two unexpected weaknesses. After a strong start with the ball, they couldn’t finish off the West Indian top order. The killer instinct was missing. Glenn McGrath, still shaking off the rust and trundling in as third seamer, was anodyne, and while other teams’ spinners have flourished, Australia’s gave Brian Lara and Runako Morton no headaches.

When they batted, the Aussies seemed unsure how to play it, as if they didn’t know whether 234 was a good score on this strange and tricky pitch. By not knowing, they ensured that it was. Adam Gilchrist adjusted his game manfully, gritting his way out of trouble. He deserved to finish on the winning side, but only Michael Clarke gave him much support. The Aussies’ new batting order backfired, with Shane Watson making an early misjudgement and Mike Hussey only reaching the middle in the 42nd over. Watson may well turn out to be the right man to open, but Hussey is surely too low at number seven.

But mainly it was a case of West Indies playing out of their skins. They had so many injuries and illnesses, they had to field a 12th man from outside the squad - Vinayak Samant, the former Mumbai first-class cricketer, who is 34, still actively in cricket, and vice-captain of the Cricket Club of India team - for all of two balls, yet a stand-in captain, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and a junior bowler, Jerome Taylor, combined to slay the giant. The Aussies like to say that it should take a great performance to beat them and Taylor, who had sweat pouring off him yet stayed ice-cool, produced one.

The Aussies were more vulnerable than usual, but England can’t take much comfort from it. For one thing, Australia now need a win on Saturday as badly as England. For another, West Indies are no longer the weakest link in the group. England are.