CRICKET ONLY & ONLY CRICKET

Hmm..after yesterday’s series loss at the hands of South Africa, the dominance of the cricketing world for almost a decade was thought to come to an end. Yes! this is rather certain, given their poor run against the the teams that the Aussies faced of late-namely India and South Africa. of course, much before the series loss to India and South Africa, Australia was far from dominating the world of cricket. It all started with the one by one retirement of stalwarts like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn and finally Justin Langer in a span of less than one year.

Adding to this is the lack of form of Mathew Hayden, Brett Lee and the captain Ricky Ponting himself. I think this was more than enough for the fans to call them off as NO 1 team. However, things are not yet clear whether the axe is about to fall on the Aussies or not. There is still a long way to go. Both for the Australians and for other teams as well. Neither should the Australians should consider themselves as underdogs, nor should the other teams take the Aussies lightly. Still a lot is yet to come to light. Taking a look at the future of the Australian team, the following can be inferred.

There are still the likes of Mike Hussey & Simon Katich, who can make it big with the bat. And it would be just a matter of time when fellow players like Brett Lee, Ricky Ponting and Mathew Hayden come back to form. And in the bowling department, the come back man Shaun Tait & Mitchell Johnson are pretty decent. Of course neither Shane nor McGrath could be replaced. And with the presence of all-rounders in Michael Clarke and  Andrew Symonds, the Australian team should not be complaining at all. All that the Aussies have lost is their world beating side and not a recognition as a tough opponent.

All the aforementioned  players are bound to go on atleast for another 4-5 years or may be until the next world cup in the subcontinent. With the absence of the aforementioned greats, the Australian team may not be a challenge that they were some two years ago. But, a slight ignorance by the opposition may result in a great disappointment for them. For, there is still some fuel left in the Aussie tank.It is inevitable to forget any sort of decent spin weapon in their armour. A bowler like Warne comes just once in a bluemoon. And that too for a team like Australia, who are poor producers of spin bowlers, is never bound to happen likely in the near future. Of course, if lucky, the entry of another Glenn McGrath could not be far off.

So, all that Australia now needs to do is to just groom the existing players so that they produce some decent stuff. And no looking back should be allowed, for such actions can ruin the present as well as the future.

Well with South Africa beating the Aussies in the second test at Melbourne by 9 wickets, South Africa has made it to the record books. And for the right reasons, South Africa would be no doubt the number 1 test team in the world if they go on to win the three test series 3-0 against Australia. And, if this happens in case, that would not be amazing, for this is something that would be expected of late from the Proteas. And there is a greater chance of this happening. But, one aspect that has gone unnoticed is the fact that, in today’s world, there are no world beaters.

Until the retirement of the bowling greats of the likes of Glenn McGrath and spin wizard Shane Warne,  Australia dominated the cricketing world, the start of which was given by Steve Waugh y winning the ICC world cup in 1999. Since then, Australia has seen match winners in Hayden, Gilchrist, Symonds, Waugh himself and much others in the batting department. And in the bowling department, needless to say, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne did them all. And in case the aforemantioned personalities failed to deliver, there were others who were confident of continuing the good start given.

Even today, memories of Andy Bichel proving out to be a perfect substitute to Jason Gillespie who was forced to return home in the world cup 2003. Bichael demolished the England batting, returning with figures of 7-20 and scoring 34* (along with Michael Beaven) in the same match, which was a nerve testing one for Australia. A victory here would have seen Australia surpass the West Indies record of having 12 successive one day victories. And Australia were found to succumb to English bowling, who had the Aussies well in their arms, for the Aussies were found reeling at 135/8 chasing a target of 204.

Similar was the case when they faced New Zealand in the super six and Sri Lanka in the semis of the same world cup. And Australia came undefeated, despite losing the services Shane Warne and Shane Watson . This was the caliber of a world dominating team.Similarly, they went undefeated in 22 consecutive tests after losing to England in the fourth Ashes test in 2005, until they lost to India at Perth last year. This including a 16 successive winning streak not once but twice. Now that they have lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2-0 and 2-0 to the Proteas with a test match still to go, no doubt that their dominance is all but over.

But, who would be the team to watch out for? A team who can beat any opposition no matter who is leading the side, or, who the match winner turns out for the team. With eight teams out there, it is just obvious that there has to be a number 1 team. This could happen even if the other team loses its plot. Not only when a second team makes it big. Right now, there is no such nation to watch out for. Not even South Africa or India for that matter. It took nearly 10 years after the domiance by the WINDIES ended in the early 90s, when the Aussies domination started in the late 90s. Of course..there was a number 1 team then also.

So, it would be a matter of time and patience, when a third team would come in to fill the void left over by first the West Indies and then now by Australia. Lets pray that it happens soon.