Dec 31 2008
All Is Not Lost Still For Australia
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.
