Australia and especially their captain, Patrick Cummins has had a spectacular year. They will be thrilled with what they have achieved and they were all outside of home. Australia at home are almost unbeatable but they are slowly starting to become the force they once were outside of home. Cummins is building a team that has the capability of excelling in all conditions and against all opponents. He is also building a team with steely resolve. With the passing of every game and every series, Cummins has only grown stronger. In a few years down the road, he may even become the best Australian captain not in terms of wins though because I do not see him captaining that many games as a Ponting or Steve Waugh. Age is not on his side to be playing for that many years but a captain who was respected and appreciated by everyone.
There were several highs during the season and some lows but overall highs far outweighed the insignificant lows. There were multiple standout performers throughout the year with someone coming to the fore to deliver the knockout blow to the opponent.
Captain Cummins
Here is a bowler who had missed 5 years of his prime as a bowler because of a back injury. Cricket Australia treated him because they knew that they had with them a precious diamond and that it needed to be tended to and polished properly. His debut against South Africa all those years ago was spectacular with 6 wickets on debut but he left the scene with everyone not knowing whether he will be back a much better bowler. Not only did he come back fitter, stronger and a meaner bowler, he also became the captain of the Australian side that was struggling for a direction following the Steve Smith sandpapergate and Tim Paine’s texting fiasco. It wasn’t completely unexpected because Cummins was thought to be someone who has the potential to become a successful captain.
He led a successful side to Pakistan and led the team from the front in the 4-0 annihilation of England. However, all of that pales in comparison to what he achieved in 2023. Recently, in the 2nd Test against Pakistan, he became only the 2nd Australian captain after Allan Border to take 10 wickets in a match. His bowling average is just above 22. Only the great Glenn McGrath averages above him among the Australians.
“That was pretty special company being up there,” Cummins said.
That is an incredible achievement for someone whose career started a little later than normal. Just like Warne all those years ago, the moment Cummins picks up the ball, there is an air of expectation that a wicket is about to fall.
Most of the captains around the world, will be lucky to win one but Cummins achieved 3 in the space of 6 months. The WTC triumph, Ashes retained and the ODI World Cup.
Silencing the crowd
Prior to the start of the ODI World Cup final, Cummins spoke about silencing the more than 1L crowd at the Ahmedabad stadium. He was quite cocky when he said that during the press meet but what actually transpired during the game was exactly what he had promised.
The crowd’s obviously going to be very one-sided but, in sport there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow.”
High of the season
There were multiple. The WTC trophy, the ODI World Cup, the series win against Pakistan towards the end of the year but for me, the definite high of the season for Australia was the drawn Ashes series. For every Aussie and every English, winning an Ashes series carries more significance than any other game. The tradition is more than 100 years old. With England’s resurgence through Bazball, England were thought to be the favourites to win the Ashes. However, what unravelled during the months of July and August was that a determined and confident Australian team, under an astute captain, wanted to continue their domination of England and were desperate to win the Ashes since 2005. Infact, if only Lyon had continued after the 2nd Test, Australia would have won the series itself because of the impact Lyon created in the first couple of Tests.
Just like McGrath’s absence in 2005 impacted the series result, Lyon’s absence impacted in 2023. It was a question of one Test to win the Ashes outright but it wasn’t to be. Nevertheless, it takes a lot of effort nowadays with draw a series in England after the successful combination of Stokes and McCullum.
Lows of the season
The series loss in India. Australia were caught on pitches that they not favour their strokeplay and were found short. They regrouped after the 2nd Test but it was too little too late. Who knows, if not for a manic morning during the 2nd Test, Australia may have even walked away with the honours. If only Australia had won that series, it would have been their best achievement of the year notwithstanding an Ashes series win or any other white-ball supremacy.
Standout player
Travis Head with Cummins, Lyon and Starc coming close. Head because of his twin hundreds in the vital games. One during the WTC finals which firmly put the game beyond India’s purview and the other during the ODI World Cup final that ensured that Australia did not panic following the wicket of Steve Smith and were slightly tottering at 41/3.
Outrageous innings
Easily, it was Glenn Maxwell’s belligerence against Afghanistan. If Australia had lost that game, they would probably not have made it to the final 4. The assault was extraordinary. The Afghan bowlers ran out of ideas as to where to bowl. Maxwell was injured during the innings that perhaps had an effect on his batting.
Individual milestone
A special mention of Nathan Lyon who completed 500 Test wickets this year. He is an excellent bowler who hasn’t always been given credit. The fact that he has taken those wickets at more than 4 per Test despite bowling on spin least friendly pitches makes his achievement even more significant.
Wrapping up review of Australia in 2023
It is hard to see any other team attaining the same levels of performance in the coming years.
Other Ashes links