PlanetCricket
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- Jan 13, 2010
Article by Aditya -
Oh yes, absolutely, the good old days are back for the Australian cricket team. Going through a very bad phase was this team from the last two years. Sudden retirement of greats like Mcgrath, Warne, Langer, Hayden, Martyn, Gillespie and a few others did absolutely no good to the team. Their skipper, who was said to be one of the greatest captain of this game ever was made to look the culprit when his team lost in this difficult phase. The Australian selectors were under pressure to select a winning team, which wasn?t happening. In the end, a player who had captained his national team for close to a decade, had to retire from the captaincy and this did affected his batting form too.
The new players coming into the side weren?t performing, the seniors were in immense pressure and this resulted in the team losing the Ashes series of 2010, 3-1 and that too in their own backyard. Finally, Cricket Australia started taking some brave moves and gave chances to more young players and to more until they found the perfect balance for the team. They even sacked a few old players from the selection panel, which wasn?t a good scene but then to get the performances, they had to do it. The must awaited world cup of 2011, wasn?t a successful journey for Australia either, they failed to reach to the semi?s and obviously the Australian fans were disappointed with the performance, considering that they were the defending champions and had won the last three world cups.
After the world cup, Cricket Australia started to take the brave moves and to their success, the moves were working but the problem was their one of the main batsman, Ricky Ponting was in very bad form until the South Africa tour in 2011, where he got his good old touch back. After the South Africa tour followed the series vs India, which as we all know was a big success for the Australian team and this series one might say can be the turning point of this team and can just be the start of another great era for the Australian Cricket Team.
The question is, why do I believe that they are so special? Here is why, the best thing about this team is that their bench players are as strong as the players playing in the playing XI and this is a very big factor of a champion team. The unbeatable Australian team of the late 1990?s till 2008 had the same big factor to their credit. Their playing eleven and their bench, both were equally strong. Can you believe that players like Hodge and MacGill who over the years were such legend in the Australian domestic cricket, didn?t get to represent their side, as much as they deserved.
If we look at the Australian XI at the moment, it?s usually this (in tests and also in one dayers) : David Warner/ED Cowan, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting/Usman Khawaja/Shaun Marsh, Michael Clarke(C), Mike Hussey, Matthew Wade/Brad Haddin(WK), Daniel Christian/Mitchell Johnson/Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus/Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc/James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon/Pat Cummins.
As it suggests, they have so many options to select from and obviously I haven?t included the players that are doing exceptionally well in the domestic circuit. In the T20 cricket, the team is basically same but there is just one change or I should say there was just one change against India, which let me be frank was shocking but good to see at the same time. The selection was of George Bailey, ?him being included in the side wasn?t shocking, him being included as a captain was indeed a shock, the last time a player made his debut for Australia as captain was Dave Gregory way back in 1877, who also happens to be their first captain ever but let?s be honest, this move of including Bailey as captain did prove that the Australian selectors aren?t afraid of giving new players a chance and that is indeed something good to see. Brad Hogg been given a chance was also good to see and it surprised us all, the way he bowled, he was looking fitter than ever. So, there we are mates (as they say
), Australian team is again looking strong as ever. What do you all think?
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Oh yes, absolutely, the good old days are back for the Australian cricket team. Going through a very bad phase was this team from the last two years. Sudden retirement of greats like Mcgrath, Warne, Langer, Hayden, Martyn, Gillespie and a few others did absolutely no good to the team. Their skipper, who was said to be one of the greatest captain of this game ever was made to look the culprit when his team lost in this difficult phase. The Australian selectors were under pressure to select a winning team, which wasn?t happening. In the end, a player who had captained his national team for close to a decade, had to retire from the captaincy and this did affected his batting form too.
The new players coming into the side weren?t performing, the seniors were in immense pressure and this resulted in the team losing the Ashes series of 2010, 3-1 and that too in their own backyard. Finally, Cricket Australia started taking some brave moves and gave chances to more young players and to more until they found the perfect balance for the team. They even sacked a few old players from the selection panel, which wasn?t a good scene but then to get the performances, they had to do it. The must awaited world cup of 2011, wasn?t a successful journey for Australia either, they failed to reach to the semi?s and obviously the Australian fans were disappointed with the performance, considering that they were the defending champions and had won the last three world cups.
After the world cup, Cricket Australia started to take the brave moves and to their success, the moves were working but the problem was their one of the main batsman, Ricky Ponting was in very bad form until the South Africa tour in 2011, where he got his good old touch back. After the South Africa tour followed the series vs India, which as we all know was a big success for the Australian team and this series one might say can be the turning point of this team and can just be the start of another great era for the Australian Cricket Team.
The question is, why do I believe that they are so special? Here is why, the best thing about this team is that their bench players are as strong as the players playing in the playing XI and this is a very big factor of a champion team. The unbeatable Australian team of the late 1990?s till 2008 had the same big factor to their credit. Their playing eleven and their bench, both were equally strong. Can you believe that players like Hodge and MacGill who over the years were such legend in the Australian domestic cricket, didn?t get to represent their side, as much as they deserved.
If we look at the Australian XI at the moment, it?s usually this (in tests and also in one dayers) : David Warner/ED Cowan, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting/Usman Khawaja/Shaun Marsh, Michael Clarke(C), Mike Hussey, Matthew Wade/Brad Haddin(WK), Daniel Christian/Mitchell Johnson/Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus/Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc/James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon/Pat Cummins.
As it suggests, they have so many options to select from and obviously I haven?t included the players that are doing exceptionally well in the domestic circuit. In the T20 cricket, the team is basically same but there is just one change or I should say there was just one change against India, which let me be frank was shocking but good to see at the same time. The selection was of George Bailey, ?him being included in the side wasn?t shocking, him being included as a captain was indeed a shock, the last time a player made his debut for Australia as captain was Dave Gregory way back in 1877, who also happens to be their first captain ever but let?s be honest, this move of including Bailey as captain did prove that the Australian selectors aren?t afraid of giving new players a chance and that is indeed something good to see. Brad Hogg been given a chance was also good to see and it surprised us all, the way he bowled, he was looking fitter than ever. So, there we are mates (as they say
More...
