As the curtains come down to one of the most anticipated series (Ashes) in the world of cricket, it is already time for the Australians to do some serious introspection.
The score on the 4th day (close to Tea time) of the last test match reads like this, "Australia require another 300 runs with 5 wickets remaining to win the match". This is 'Oval' my friends and England does not loose many on this ground. Only a miracle can save Australia now and if I have to bet, it would be for a England win :-)
So what has happened to the much hyped about 'Australian' dominance? Honestly, nothing much except that they have just lost the belief that they can win from here. Their confidence got dented earlier in the series when Anderson and Panesar made them almost beg to the gods to stop nature's clock and let them bowl for 1 more hour. They lost the next test match very badly. Yes, they did bounce back to win the next one but that was more of England losing it than Australia winning it.
Both the teams came into the decider hoping that it does not end in a draw. Few years back and in a similar situation, Australia would have wont it by the 3rd day itself but this team and its members do not have the same confidence that existed in the era of Warnie, Pigeon, Gillie and of course the big-hitting Hayden.
I have always said that may be Ponting is a better batsman than Tendulkar but his arrogance (both on and off the field) has ensured that he does not have a huge fan following. Now I have started to believe that he is not a great captain too. May be it is time that CA looks at the 2 Michaels in their team lineup (Clarke and Hussey) as people who are going to revive the old glory. Personally, I am not a big fan of Clarke because I think that he has already learnt what he should not have from Ponting whereas Hussey on the other hand can bring something new to them.
Looking forward to the steps CA would take in the next few months...
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6 comments:
I have always believed that a captain is as good as his team.A case in point is Ricky Ponting - the captain of 2 consecutive world cup (2003, 2007) winning teams.I always wanted to see how Australia performs without Mc Grath, Warnie and Gilly.The ongoing Ashes series just gives a glimpse of this presumption.
Remember Australia of 80s and early 90s, they were never a world beating side.It was only after the induction of some match winning players that Australia became an invincible side.
I am not sure whether a new captain can do wonders with the existing team.If at all it is the case, then Clark would be a better choice than Hussey since Hussey himself is finding it hard to retain his place in the team.
As regards Sachin Vs Ponting, I just want to say one thing - Let Ponting face 1 billion cricket crazy fanatics sitting on his head, I would love to see how good he can be !!
I guess you wrote about Hussey a little too early :-)
Finally Australian team has been knocked off the number one slot in the ICC test ranking and now is placed behind India at fourth position.
I believe that Punter made a mistake by not picking off Spinner Nathan Hauritz for the final test but he is not a bad captain as he has proven himself multiple times. The problem with Australian team is quite similar to the India they have the potential players (Marcus North, Brad Haddin etc.) but their performance is inconsistent.
see you have many followers of your blog..:)
All cricket fanatics..
Recall the 2005 series when we were closely watching the cricinfo site, yes, it was a disappointment to see Australia losing the Ashes, but after half of their best is gone due to retirement, this was bound to happen. But they will surely come back.
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