da leao： Is the seemingly widening gulf between Australia and the rest of the worldsimply one of those cyclical things in sport, or is it the beginning of adynasty the likes of which cricket has never seen before
David Wiseman26-Nov-2002Is the seemingly widening gulf between Australia and the rest of the worldsimply one of those cyclical things in sport, or is it the beginning of adynasty the likes of which cricket has never seen before?Are Steve Waugh and his charges copping the rough end of the pineapple inthat people are tuning out because they are winning too well? The games aretoo one-sided. What is the point of following the cricket when it is alreadya fait accompli?Australia is the strongest side in world cricket. There is no doubt aboutthat. From one to 11, all players are not just competent and able; theyare skilled and gifted. The greatest challenge these players face is beingselected in the team because the depth of Australian cricket is so strong there are cricketers being kept in domestic cricket whoin any other era would be playing for their country.The Dutch coined “Total Football” in the 1970’s where they believed thatthere were no positions on the field. Every player should be able to bothattack and defend.Steve Waugh and his Australian side have just about perfected “TotalCricket”. The bowlers can bat and do what is needed if the top orderfail.In days gone by, you put your best fielders in the covers and the slips andthat was about it. All the Australians are incredible fielders, have greatthrowing arms and hit the stumps more often that not.The Australians are incredibly adept at converting the half chances intowickets. It can be ridiculous catches like Matthew Hayden’s at the Gabba.Amazing run outs like Adam Gilchrist’s at the Gabba. Or just moments ofsheer brilliance and artistry such as Glenn McGrath’s classical catch at theAdelaide Oval.But that’s what the better sides do. It’s no coincidence that the team ontop has all the luck. They try harder and manufacture their own luck.Australia have minimal on-field competition. Only 10 nations play Testcricket. Only New Zealand seems to challenge them. Could a rugby league-typesituation emerge where Australia killed off international games because thecrème de la crème of the code was an inter-state game between New South Walesand Queensland.That’s not to talk about now. A few retirements to the aging Australian sideand they could fall back to the pack.For the moment, the most arduous task the Australian side faces is how theystack up in cricket immortality?From their defeat in New Zealand in early-1980 until their loss to Australia in1995, the West Indies went 29 series without defeat.Notwithstanding world records for consecutive Test victories, Australiahasn’t won more than five series in a row since 1961 where the team wonseven series in a row. Away losses in India and Sri Lanka curtailedAustralia’s consecutive series wins at five.Steve Waugh and his team find themselves in a difficult position. The WestIndies juggernaut of the ’80’s is idolised and highly-venerated while he andhis team stand accused of killing the game and taking all the fun out of it.That is extremely harsh. What more can they do than win? Does it arise dueto the fact that the Australians love being the underdog? That has probablygot something to do with it. But the fact is, that winning so consistently inthe face of what seems to be thread-bare opposition is boring for fans.While it wasn’t good to be hammered courtesy of a Calypso onslaught, forsome reason people find that easier to accept than winning where theopposition seems only capable of turning up.Which gets us to the English.The Ashes are the jewel in the cricketing crown and the modern day one-sidednature of the contest can only be doing more harm than good for the game andthe Ashes concept.Totally devoid of any self belief or self confidence, if possible, this sideis even worse than the one which toured in 1994/95. Their bowling attack isso benign, it’s embarrassing.The loss of Darren Gough, Ashley Giles and Simon Jones didn’t help when youconsider their depleted resources to start with.If McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne were injured. Australia couldpick decent back-up from the likes of Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, StuartMacGill, Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, Nathan Hauritz and BradWilliams.Most, if not all, of the Australian domestic sides would defeat England.Australian cricket is that strong that most of the state sideswould beat most of the Test-playing nations.Darren Lehmann commented after the recent SA-NSW match that it was the bestfour-day game he had played in, for a while. Imran Khan stated that aNSW-QLD game he participated in, in the mid ’80’s was more intense than someTest matches he played in.Overseas players are spending their time in Australian grade cricket, notinter-state cricket. Australian state players are going over to countycricket and breaking records as if they are going out of fashion. What doesthat tell you?Martin Love is an interesting case in point. A run scoring machine forDurham, he has batted twice against England this summer, both times scoringdouble centuries. In the Pura Cup though, he has scores of 27, 56*, 20, 37and 0.Ricky Ponting is in an incredible vein of form 85.5 in the last seriesagainst Pakistan and 93.33 in the series to date against England. This wouldsuggest he is the rarest of touches. Why is it then that in the midst ofthis purple patch he could only manage scores of 7 and 0 against Queenslandin a Pura Cup game between the first and second Ashes Tests?Shane Warne’s numbers are considerably better for Australia than forVictoria. His bowling average for Victoria in the Pura Cup is 36.22 and hisbowling average for Australia in Test matches is 25.65.Adam Gilchrist averages 38.97 in Pura Cup batting but 58.43 in Test matches.Is the answer that the Australian players are less intimidated by theWarnes and Gilchrists then their international opposition is?Six states means just 66 first-class cricketers and most of those seem to bebetter cricketers than the English. Eighteen counties equates to 198 first-classcricketers and while a fair few of the 198 are foreigners, surely they mustbe capable of producing 11 good ones?