It is May 3, 1995 and thanks to a brilliant 200 from Steve Waugh, Australia has beaten the West Indies in the final test to reclaim the Frank Worrell Trophy, awarded by Bobby Simpson’s team in 1977-78, and put an end to at 15 for the West Indies without a series loss. From this point on, Australia have enjoyed a long period of dominance to match the team they beat on that famous day. Until now.
Although Australia are still at the top of the ICC Test rankings, they are fighting to turn down South Africa’s bid for their number 1 ranking. Last week Andrew Strauss, not known for making bold statements about opponents in the middle of a series crucial, he said he thinks facing Australia “…feels like you’re playing any other Test team.” This was similar to comments made earlier by Graeme Smith and Anil Kumble.
So have we reached the end of an era? Or is it just a temporary problem in a continuing era of Australian dominance?
Indeed, if we look at the Test match records of the top five countries in the ICC rankings since January 2008, coincidentally when Adam Gilchrist, the last of the holy trinity along with McGrath and Warne, retired, Australia has definitely come back. To the group. .
Most Australians will rightly point out that the baggy greens have had a difficult schedule during this time with home and away series against South Africa and an away series against India, as well as the current Ashes contest. Good point, but during their era of dominance, only the turns to India proved consistently difficult for Australia to win.
During the same press conference, Strauss went further, saying that “I don’t think this Australian side has an aura about it to be honest with you and before this Test series started, we didn’t feel like they had an aura.” This is not surprising when you consider the long list of all-time greats and/or very good players who have retired in the last three years: McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Langer, Hayden, Martyn, Gillespie and MacGill. Any team in any sport would have a hard time replacing players of that caliber in such a short time.
While some of the replacements for these big names have already made their mark (Haddin, Johnson and Hughes, to name just three), it will take some time to achieve the consistency that can only come from the experience and familiarity of playing for a team that has grown. together. In fact, inconsistency, the loss of team-killing ability, and the absence of the fear factor from other sides seem to be Australia’s main problems at the moment.
The inconsistency has been clearly highlighted during the current Ashes series with Johnson and Hughes in particular struggling to maintain the excellent starts they had both had in their Test races. In addition to Johnson’s jobs, the absence of a genuine Test class spin option as well as injuries to Lee and Clark have made the Australian attack toothless at times. On the hitting side, given Hussey’s continued search for form, only Ponting and Clarke can be called genuinely world-class at this point.
The loss of the killer instinct is just as stark. In the Australian summer, South Africa chased 414 to win in Perth, rallied from 184/7 to post 459 in the first innings during their victory in Melbourne, and then nearly survived in Sydney. All of that added up to Australia’s first series loss at home in 15 years. England’s incredible survival in Cardiff is yet another example of Australia missing teeth. Can anyone imagine a team with McGrath and Warne throwing away those winning positions in Perth, Melbourne and Cardiff?
As Strauss also said, the fear factor associated with playing in Australia is gone, and teams no longer fear a dramatic fight when they have the Aussies under pressure. “We certainly felt that in 2006-07. Even when we had good days, we were thinking about what will happen now. Is Gilchrist going to blow up a hundred or is Warne going to take five wickets out of nowhere?” Who’s going to take those five rapids for now?
Without a doubt, Australia are still a good team and will always have that competitive streak that characterizes any team that wears the baggy green. They showed it by coming back against Graeme Smith’s side in the second leg in South Africa, where not many teams win. Any team that can have Ponting, Clarke, Haddin, Lee and an in-form Johnson in its ranks is a dangerous team, and Strauss wouldn’t be well-informed if he thought reclaiming the little urn this summer was inevitable. However, while they will still be one of the best teams, the days of conquering Australia are over, for now.
As such, cricket lovers can look forward to more close series such as the current battle of the Ashes and the recent contests between Australia and South Africa. Roll ’em up!