Aussies have ruled the cricketing world since winning the worldcup in 1999, in bth forms of the game. Gilchrist, Waugh, Ponting Mcgrath, warne and co have been pretty consistent performers and won many matches for them. That incredible winning streak took them to new heights in WC 2003 when they won without losing a match. Won a series in India for the first time in nearly forty years.
They are finding new stars as well ready to replace the old ones. Micheal Clarke has come and replaced Micheal Bevan perfectly while Katich is ready to dislodge Lehmann. Kasprowicz has kept Brett Lee out of the test team for a while now and Macgrath/Gillespie duo keep performing.
BUT In my opinion Australian dominance will come to an end sooner rather than later. Specially in shorter version of the game. They have been showing since a while that their awesome top order is prone to collapses, and their oneday team balance is not ideal. They have been trying to make star out of mediocre player like Shane Watson to find an all-rounder but he is not the answer so they end up taking 10 overs from Lehmann and Symonds on regular basis. Mcgrath doesnt have much time left on his side. and by the way I am not talking about this with VB series in mind. They will win it but in long term persepective the gap between them and other teams will be shortened.
Having said that, I must say that in test matches they are still going to do wonderfully well because of their awesome batting line up topped with the fact that thier bowlers can take twenty wickets on consistent basis. Though for the test level, I think next Ashes series will determine whether Australian dominance is under thread or not.
Well the way they are planning I dont see that happening.. even when Gallispie,McGrath and Lee were injured they had those Three clowns in the teams, and they were winning matches.. ( i have forgotten names of those backup fast bowlers..)
The problem is that for every Steve Waugh, they get a freakin' Michael Clarke to kick our bums :( . I seriously hope this current Aussie batting line up retires together, so they can lose their crown. Martyn, Hayden, Gilchrist, Lehmann(who's a pathetic batsman anyway), McGrath and Warne will retire around the same time. That is when Australia will really be in trouble.
Signs are there for us to see. Aussie one day team is not unbeatable or invincible anymore. They have been showing chinks since 2004 and this english tour has started horribly for them.
Don't worry Saby. This is the Australian team; they will come back and hunt down England ruthlessly. Although, it would be so hilarious if they get their asses kicked after all the talking they do.
Let the Ashes end guys, it is too early to make conclusions about Australia. They might be playing bad as they use to but, the rest of the world plays even worst than this. It is hard to believe that the kind of system they have in place and the captain that leads them will let them carry on this path.
They have shown shades of poor performance lately but lets not jump on to the conclusion.
We all know why they are number 1, mainly because they have got a team with 4-5 players atleast who are match winners. So many times we have seen them collapsing and then one of the player saving the day for them. Today symonds was out because of some disciplainary issue and lee as well because of shoulder problem. Both of them can be match winners on thier day. I think their performance in this ODI series will determine that if there is really going to be a aussie downfall soon in ODI or if it is just a rough patch.
Having said that i really hope that it is the sign of their downfall
Ozzies r yet to win a match on this tour, now thats something new.
Players who hv won so many laurels for the downunders cannot be dropped bcos of a few lost matches, yes ozzies need to introduce new blood soon, but no need to push the panic buttons yet.
Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Martyn, Mcgrath, Warne these are class acts. Iam sure nobody wants to c them retire, but there will be day when they hang their hats. But not yet, lets enjoy these guys.
I did not say that this will happen any time sooner. But lately aussies have shown chinks what they didnt use to. Their test team is still the best by quite a long margin but their one day team is best but not by far. Other one day teams are catching up and beating australia quite often now. England, WI, Pakistan, India and now BD.
They dont possess quality all rounders and hence at least 20 overs of their bowling are made up of ****ty bowlers like Symonds, clarke, katich and lately teams have been capitalizing on them. Theyr so called all rounder shane watson was presented to the world with quite a hype but even Paul collingwood bowls better than him
I am not jumping on a conclusion nor do i believe that they will fold meekly in remaining matches. They will bounce back but signs are here that their one day team composition is not perfect and teams have started to capitalize on that. Will these performances reflect on their test team remains to be seen.
yes i agree that there is something going wrong with their ODI side which we haven’t seen before. They may not go down all of a sudden but there downfall will start sometime and probably the time has started and we have to wait and see what will happen this summer.
Australin have ruled cricket for a long time now and one of the reason was their innovations as well. They like to experiment alot but i guess too much expermenting is not good. Watson is one example but the one whcich beats me is the exclusion of a very successful batsman from their lineup , bevan. I don’t know what was the logic behind his exlusion. He was a mastermind behind so many victories specially one knock i cant forget which he played against NZ of 102 when there was no hope for aussies to win the match and he played a simply outstanding knock with the tailenders.
Bevan was horribly out of form when he was dropped and with Clarke, Symonds etc Aussie selectors could not stick with him for long. so he was deservedly dropped. It is astonishing they never bothered to recall him though in all honesty their batting is not their main concern but their back up bowlers are.
In my opinion, aussie ruled the world because they stuch to basics, specially in test cricket.
Australian batting was disappointing and their bowlers did not perform well because English pitches are not supporting fast bowlers very well these days. Australia has always relied heavily on their fast bowlers for destruction of other teams. Since the pitches will not support them as good, so Australia may find it difficult in England. They first failed to defend their target against a county side and now Bangladesh batting lineup was very tough for them.
On other pitches, they will still be able to outclass any other team.
As for ICC rankings, In August, they will eliminate one last year from their record, so some things might change. But the reduction will favor Australia most, I guess.
aussies have really high standards for their players and sometimes it is really harsh to drop players like bevan after a failure in one series. But that was their key to success by demanding top performance from the players everytime. I personally think that bevan deserved a recall and i woner if it was something else besides his failure in one series.
