Ever since the last day of the India vs Australia series at Brisbane, Gabba, the Australian cricket team have been subjected to relentless criticism by their media and former players. The team’s strategy was questioned. The effectiveness or lack of it of Starc, Lyon, Wade and a few others were questioned. The captaincy was questioned and a lot other aspects were questioned as well. The irony is that this was one series loss albeit at home over the course of several years. Despite this series loss, they still remain as one of the team who is difficult to defeat at home and quite competitive outside of home. This article tries to find the reason Australians must not be critical of their team.
The greatest team of all era
The Australian cricket team of the late 90s and for most of 2000s were among the absolute best of all time. It is difficult to find a more dominating side than that Australian side throughout the history of the game. There was the West Indies side captained by Lloyd and Richards but they never stacked up the numbers that the Australian sides under Taylor, Waugh & Ponting managed. There was a South African side but their tenure lasted only for 7 years. It was against this backdrop that Australian cricket in general must be viewed.
During the period mentioned above, Australians won test series throughout the world and that includes India. South Africa never managed to win a series in their country against Australia until 2018 since the time of their readmission. England were humiliated for 17 years that the entire England team enjoyed an open top bus ride post their 2005 Ashes win. India were the only team that even came close to matching up to the Australians. The less said about the other teams the better it is.
Some of the great players
During this period, the Australians had some of the greatest of that era playing concurrently. That side never needed a captain because everyone knew what is expected of him. The team had once in a generation players like McGrath, Ponting, Steve Waugh & Hayden. It also had someone who transformed the way wicket keepers were viewed until then. Gilchrist made every team to search for a Gilchrist of their own. There was the small matter of once in a generation bowler who transformed how leg-spin in particular and spin in general is viewed by all the teams. Shane Warne. What can you say about such a genius?
Numbers game
The numbers stacked up by such a team is staggering to say the least. Multiple Ashes victories that Australians always held close to their hearts. Series wins in the sub-continent. Multiple series wins against the second best team of that era, South Africa. A world record 17 consecutive Test wins and that too twice. A world record of remaining unbeaten in 2 successive World Cups. Lots and lots of series whitewashes. Except for India and South Africa, no other team had even had the nerve to come close to Australia. To top all of that, 3 consecutive ODI World Cup wins. These are statistics that will probably never be surpassed by any team.
It is only natural for any team to have a lean patch post the retirement of all such great players. Australia do not have the same resources to choose from as say the likes of India. The talent pool in Australia is limited with much less population. It is a multi-sporting country unlike the teams from the sub-continent who are a single sporting country. As such it is difficult to produce world beaters consistently. Australians are competitive in Swimming, Tennis and various other games. Infact, offlate, football is taking over the interests of the Australians. This reduces the talent pool even further. In the sub-continent, if it is possible to find 10 cricketers from 100, it increases to 10 from 10000 in Australia.
The current team is not too bad
Despite such paucity of resources, the Australian team have certainly done well when it comes to performance on the field. Not long ago, they won their 5th ODI World Cup title in 2015. Last year, in 2019, they whitewashed the current world number one, New Zealand and Pakistan. Against all odds, the current Australian team even managed to retain the Ashes away in England. Yes, they are not competitive any longer in Asia and they lost their first series in South Africa after that team’s readmission. They even lost one test in Bangladesh and have not lost 2 consecutive series to India in Australia. None of these should take away the fact that, in favourable conditions, Australians are as tough as any team can get.
One reason for such criticism of the current Australian team is because of the success enjoyed by the previous Australians teams over a prolonged period. The media and the fans are so used to success that they do not take too kindly to loss. The Australians will do well to remember that there are teams that will be satisfied with the wins that even the current team have come up with. West Indies, Sri Lanka to name 2 teams.
Conclusion
The Australian public must learn to accept that it is difficult to find world class players from the available pool. There are some. Smith is doubtless a great. Marnus, Pucovski & Green was marked as players for the future and there is that one bowler any team would like to have. Pat Cummins. The current team does have an excellent bowling attack. The management must learn to rotate them properly which will keep the bowlers fresh for all the games. Batting is a bit of a concern but if Marnus, Green & Pucovski starts to perform, they will remain zealous even in the sub-continent.
It is easy for former Australian players like Warne, Gilchrist & Ponting to criticise the current squad but they must also try to offer solution. They must realise that there aren’t that many great players around Australia. They must stop comparing the current team with their own and understand that such a team may not be possible in the near future.
Other articles related to Australia can be read here, here and here.