Australia is clearly on a decline. It may not be an immediate decline, but it is a shift towards the downward slope. Well, yes, you could make the argument that they are suffering the fallback from post-McGrath/Warne era (and you’d most likely win), but their upcoming cricketers already look like they want to play some serious cricket. Their fielding is miles ahead from most teams, and that is perhaps the only thing that they could end up comparing to other teams. What about their batting lineup, Katich has been and continues to be a find but Hayden looks uncomfortable. Symonds just hasn’t been “back” after his rehabilitation (after Australia made an example out of him). Brad Haddin is an exceptional wicket-keeper/batsman, and Mitchell Johnson continues to out-perform Brett Lee. Speaking of, Lee’s success came against New Zealand but then again New Zealand also have sunked in the ICC test rankings. Against South Africa, Australia bowling attack looked toothless, and Brett Lee looked like he led from the front. And what happened to his pace, he used to be 145+ bowler regularly.
Australia still have positives, but negatives seem to equal or almost outweigh the positives. Ponting’s captaincy does not look under threat, but positions of some players in the team does. Maybe, maybe not.
What are your views on this Australian team?