CRICKET ONLY & ONLY CRICKET

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.