Way back in 1995 Australia the emerging champions dethroned the long time champions West Indies in the Caribbean to annex the Frank Worrell trophy. Last night Ricky Ponting’s Australians beat the West Indies in a series again and proudly held the same Frank Worrell trophy after winning the series 2 -0. The Australian team has been on top of the cricketing heap for so long to the extent of making test cricket boring and one sided. The only teams to have pushed Australia in this period have been India and England in the 2005 Ashes series. Yet this series, just concluded, demonstrates the shift in the balance of power and perhaps signals the end of Australian dominance. If this series was any indication, a lot more teams will certainly be able to draw more matches against Australia, if not actually beat them. Australia without the belligerence of Gilchrist and the bludgeoning of Hayden and the unorthodoxy of Justin Langer not to forget the silken grace of Damien Martyn are struggling to score at the frenetic pace that they used to score in, thereby giving their top flight bowlers enough and more time to take twenty wickets. And while even this is manageable as the batting replacements like Katich have kicked in and people like Hodge and Marsh have not even gotten a look in, the real problem is in the bowling with only Brett Lee and Stuart Clarke being truly effective and the matches have been much closer despite West Indies being currently ranked eighth in the ICC test rankings. All of this led Ricky Ponting to grudgingly accept that his bowling has gone” back to the pack”- some admission from the normally cocky Australian captain.
Test cricket is the real McCoy
India in particular and the world in general had been sucked into the glitz and glamour that the IPL provided .The IPL had gotten in a new breed of viewers who admired the shortened format and perhaps the attendant entertainment in the grounds. Some even predicted the death of test cricket. At Bridgetown, the West Indies made a gallant effort at chasing down 475.They fell 87 runs short, but the match and the series made for excellent viewing even if some of the grounds were empty .Shivnarine Chanderpaul demonstrated what a difficult batsman he is to dislodge and not surprisingly was the man of the series even as the slightly stodgy Simon Katich scored two centuries and conceded sportingly that he may not have a place in the Australian team once Hayden returns for the Bangalore test against India. What an embarrassment of batting riches and how enormously frustrating for people waiting in the wings like Watson and Marsh who had such a fantastic IPL season. But the bowling is where replacements are harder to get and this is where the once mighty Australians are suffering and this is where the rest of the world can take heart from and actually capitalize .The next test match that Australia will play will be here at Bangalore at the lion’s den and the “last frontier” that Steve Waugh never conquered. This could well be the beginning of the end for Australia. Mind you it will not be a quick demise like the one in the eighties when Marsh, Lillee and Greg Chappell retired in one go. Australia will move from flamboyance to percentage cricket, which will make them a lot less attractive to watch if not easier to beat. Teams will gain confidence from what the lowly ranked West Indies showed the rest of the world. While the ranking may not do justice to the West Indies’ current ability, there is no going away from the fact that they are still ranked eighth. Teams no longer to have play the reputation of the Australian team, they just have to play the team and beat it.
Will we show the way to the rest of the world or get caught in our own hype?
Test cricket is the real McCoy
India in particular and the world in general had been sucked into the glitz and glamour that the IPL provided .The IPL had gotten in a new breed of viewers who admired the shortened format and perhaps the attendant entertainment in the grounds. Some even predicted the death of test cricket. At Bridgetown, the West Indies made a gallant effort at chasing down 475.They fell 87 runs short, but the match and the series made for excellent viewing even if some of the grounds were empty .Shivnarine Chanderpaul demonstrated what a difficult batsman he is to dislodge and not surprisingly was the man of the series even as the slightly stodgy Simon Katich scored two centuries and conceded sportingly that he may not have a place in the Australian team once Hayden returns for the Bangalore test against India. What an embarrassment of batting riches and how enormously frustrating for people waiting in the wings like Watson and Marsh who had such a fantastic IPL season. But the bowling is where replacements are harder to get and this is where the once mighty Australians are suffering and this is where the rest of the world can take heart from and actually capitalize .The next test match that Australia will play will be here at Bangalore at the lion’s den and the “last frontier” that Steve Waugh never conquered. This could well be the beginning of the end for Australia. Mind you it will not be a quick demise like the one in the eighties when Marsh, Lillee and Greg Chappell retired in one go. Australia will move from flamboyance to percentage cricket, which will make them a lot less attractive to watch if not easier to beat. Teams will gain confidence from what the lowly ranked West Indies showed the rest of the world. While the ranking may not do justice to the West Indies’ current ability, there is no going away from the fact that they are still ranked eighth. Teams no longer to have play the reputation of the Australian team, they just have to play the team and beat it.
Will we show the way to the rest of the world or get caught in our own hype?
