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

Happy New Year .....

....well almost......its only 2 months in to 2009 so I guess its not terribly late for the first post of the year :-) The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 has been quite engrossing primarily because of the tussle for supremacy between Australia and South Africa. And its interesting how once again, the Aussies are showing that the biggest mistake 'pundits' can make is to write them off. But I am jumping way ahead. The series in Australia was a real cracker and it was great to see the Springboks actually delivering so well on their abilities for once and not choking at the big moments. And in Steyn, Amla, de Villiers, Duminy and Morkel they have some real stars in the making and should be a strong team for some time to come. Australia's struggles on the other hand were not surprising after their performance in India. The same guys, i.e. Hayden and Lee continued to underwhelm and with the inexplicable selection of Symonds made things worse for Ricky Ponting. They were a l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Season ending review

Well, officially the season hasn't quite ended since the last one-dayer between Australia and South Africa still remains to be played but given that its a dead rubber, the season is as good as over. And what a season its been. Probably as much action off-field as on it, but its been riveting throughout and the quality of Test cricket overall (apart from the WI-Eng series) has been top-notch and a welcome reminder of why I like the 5 day format the most. The two Aus-SA series have in particular been fascinating to watch though a lot of it has been driven by Australia waiting too long to make much needed changes. South Africa though has truly come on in leaps and bounds and though they will be losing Kallis and Ntini sooner rather than later, their decreasing reliance on them over the last year or so has meant that they won't be missed much. Their one-day game has come along strongly too and they should have a genuine shot at the World Cup this time. Australia on the other hand h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of backward selections and England's future

A couple of interesting selectorial decisions recently by England and India (and actually as its turning out Australia as well!). For once I think the England selectors didn't panic and showed the right thinking by not picking either Key or Ramprakash for the Oval Test. And luckily for them, both Bell and Trott have performed well enough to vindicate the decision. India on the other hand have actually gone the other way bringing Dravid back to the one-day squad. I'm a bit ambivalent on that one. While the decision to leave out Rohit Sharma and retain Raina was certainly the right one, bringing back Dravid is questionable. It would have been a bolder decision to pick someone like Kohli or Rahane who both played really well in the Emerging Players Trophy recently, mainly because Dravid is quite unlikely to feature in the 2011 World Cup so why bring him back now? As for the Aussies, they will certainly be regretting not picking Nathan Hauritz for the Oval. A defensive decision if...
Post a Comment
Read more