Australia: Similar Shapings to Start Of the Year

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Sreelata YellamrazuJan 12 2009

by Siddharth Raman

The way the year 2009 began had a very similar beginning to the year 2008 for the Australian test team.

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The venue was Sydney, the opposition was batting on the last day to salvage a draw. And eventually with less than quarter of an hour to spare the Aussies pulled of a victory in a cliffhanger. Just these two instances may make one feel that the Australians well and truly are world champions. But analyse the series of events between these two games and you have to reconsider the same.

The year 2008 would be one which Ricky Ponting and his men would quickly want to forget. It did start on a winning note at Sydney but the Australian victory was accorded least priority in comparison to monkeygate and its repercussions. Andrew Symonds still hasnt been able to forgive Cricket Australia for not standing by him and even contemplated retirement at that point of time. In the next test match they were comprehensively beaten by a resurgent Indian team at Perth - until then considered an impregnable fortress of Australian dominance. Ricky Ponting and his men may have won that series but they failed to win the hearts of the cricketing fraternity world over (including Australia). Following that they had comfortable a series victory against Bangladesh at home but that was marred by the Andrew Symonds fishing incident because of which he was omitted from the squad which was to tour India.

From October 2008 began the visible decline of the Aussie dominance. They were unable to force a victory at Bangalore, were comprehensively beaten at Mohali, drew in Delhi and grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory in Nagpur. Until then they would have considered Nagpur to be a special place because it was at this very venue that they had sealed a series victory against India in 2004. But this time around, the Australian team that was on display was one that did not know how to react when they were the ones being dominated. They faced similar situations in the home series against South Africa and were lost for ideas there too. At Perth they could not defend 414 and at Melbourne they could not get the last two South African wickets before conceding close to 200 runs! Even at Sydney, they owed their penultimate over victory to Graeme Smith's injury. As was the case the previous year their victory was completely overshadowed by two things - they had lost their first home series in 16 years and Graeme Smith's bravery.

If one tried to trace back the roots of the Aussie dominance it would reach Allan Border's side in the late 80's. They weren't exactly the best team in the world, but had set out to be just that. After the mantle was passed on to Mark Taylor he picked up where Allan Border left off. The tag of world Champions came under the captaincy of Steve Waugh who led the team from strength to strength. Ricky Ponting was a worthy successor to Steve Waugh but now one wonders how long he will be able to keep his side as the number one spot in test cricket.

The term dominance wasn't just thrust upon the Australians because they kept winning where ever they went. It was because of the way they won their matches. When they seemed down and out and the opposition felt they had the Aussies out for the count, they would be wrong and within a couple of sessions the tables would have turned! The Waugh twins guiding their team to victory at Sabina Park, Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer chasing down a 300+ target at Hobart against the likes of Wasim and Waqar, Hayden and Gilchrist decimating the Indian attack at the Wankhede thereby changing the complexion of the game in a matter of hours - these were the traits the cricketing world had come to associate the Aussies. They always seemed to be able to deliver the quintessential knockout punch. But that has not been happening for quite sometime and hence the question is being asked whether this is the beginning of the end?

Their next tour of South Africa will statistically put an end to this debate. Can South Africa be to Australia what Nadal is to Federer? The first 4 months of the year will decide.

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