Australia were dealt an early blow in their quest to reach the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup after the depleted former champions crashed to a 23-run defeat by Zimbabwe in Colombo on Friday.

Opener Brian Bennett’s unbeaten 64 helped Zimbabwe set a target of 170, and Australia made a disastrous start as they chased their second win in Group B. The 2021 winners lost four wickets inside five overs before Glenn Maxwell departed for 31 to leave them at 106-5.

Matt Renshaw attempted to steady the ship again during his innings of 65 but Zimbabwe’s bowlers led by Blessing Muzarabani (4-17) turned up the heat to dismiss Australia for 146 in 19.3 overs.

Facing Australia in a T20 World Cup for the first time in 19 years and looking to build on a famous five-wicket win, Zimbabwe reached 47 for no loss in six powerplay overs after being asked to bat.

Australia’s stand-in skipper Travis Head brought Adam Zampa, Matthew Kuhnemann and Maxwell into the attack but his side failed to arrest the flow of runs, even after Marcus Stoinis had Tadiwanashe Marumani caught behind for 35.

That setback barely mattered for Zimbabwe as Bennett helped guide them past the 100-run mark in the 13th over and brought up his half-century while stitching together a 70-run partnership with Ryan Burl.

Australia were left sweating when Stoinis walked off after being hit on his hand while attempting to stop a ferocious shot by Burl, who perished for 35 on the next ball bowled by Cameron Green to complete the 16th over.

Australia composed themselves and tightened things up through Zampa and Nathan Ellis, but Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza (25 not out) took his team to 169-2 with the first six of the innings on the final ball.