Skip to main content

Australia on the rise again

Much like the recession in 2009, it looks like the recovery for the Australian cricket team will be much quicker than anticipated. Their batting had shown a few cracks but the development of Shane Watson into a Test class opener and the rediscovered form of Hussey and North leaves them quite solid, though back-up is a bit thin. On the one-day front, though they've never really let up since the 2007 World Cup, the recent blooming of Cameron White and Ryan Harris coupled with the re-emergence of Nathan Hauritz has made them even more formidable. They've also finally found the right personnel for their T20 side with the likes of Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes, David Warner, and David Hussey.

However, it is the Test bowling line-up that leaves me most impressed. Any other team would struggle to replace men like Brett Lee and Stuart Clark but Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus did so almost seamlessly (no pun intended!). And now, with those two injured they've unearthed Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris. This is really the key aspect that makes them so hard to beat. The other 'contenders' for the top spot really struggle when their first choice bowlers get injured or lose form but Australia always finds men to take 20 wickets. Dhoni, Smith, and Strauss must all be quite jealous of Ponting at least in this regard. Replacing Hayden and Symonds with Watson and North has been no less crucial though I feel they still have not exploited North's bowling abilities fully.

All in all, I will be surprised if in the coming year, Australia do not achieve at least two out of the big three - winning the T20 world championship, regaining the Ashes and then retaining the 50 over World Cup.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Much ado about a run-out

Judging by the amount that's been said and written about Ian Bell's run-out-that-wasn't at Trent Bridge, you would think that it has been the most significant occurrence of the series so far when nothing could be further from the truth. Andrew Miller  and Samir Chopra seem to be of the opinion that it was the crucial turning point in the match, which I completely disagree with (the post-tea sessions on days one and two were far more critical and momentum shifting). Andy Flower says that if Tendulkar had been run-out similarly in Bombay, it would have caused an international incident. He's clearly feeling the effects of having been in the England cricket set-up for too long given that a) its very improbable that Tendulkar would do something as daft as Bell did, and b) when a controversial run-out (but within the laws) did happen to him (against Pakistan at Eden Gardens no less), Tendulkar went out to the crowd and appealed to them to calm down and let the game proceed...
Post a Comment
Read more

A kick up the backside

Its very interesting (and revealing) that so many Indian cricketers pull up their socks and become better players once they've been dropped from the side and left out in the cold for a while. The trend is even more prevalent currently when the selectors have a larger pool of good players to choose from. Dravid (from the one-day team), Kumble, Ganguly, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan, the list goes on. In fact, the only people I can think of who haven't been dropped at any point in recent years are Tendulkar (in any form of the game), and Dravid (from the Test team). This article in the TOI attributes their post-drop performance improvements (at least in Yuvraj's case and a few more as well) to anger. I'm not too sure I agree. I think its more a generic Indian mentality of taking things easy and getting soft and comfortable too easily. Its a national trait and one that needs great guarding against. I've discovered the hard way how getting physically unfit or slack...
Post a Comment
Read more

First thoughts on the Ashes

The only minor surprise for me in the 2013 Australian Ashes squad announced last week was the selection of James Faulkner ahead of Moises Henriques as the second all-rounder. Minor because given  the Shane Watson shenanigans of recent times, I would have thought that Inverarity and co would have opted for a second batting all-rounder (which is what Henriques clearly is). Instead they've gone with a bowling all-rounder in Faulkner and it'll be interesting to see what happens if Watson's batting woes in Test match cricket continue in the first two Tests. As for the rest of the squad, given the way the inexperienced batting performed in India, Rogers and Haddin were always going to make it in to the team and the choice of Khawaja over Smith appears sound too given that the latter's strength is in playing spin bowling. The batting still looks as unsettled and shaky as the Indian fast bowling line-up and its here that the series will be won or lost for the Aussies. The retu...
Post a Comment
Read more