By completing their demolition of the West Indies in Brisbane Australia have completed a record 11 test victories in a row thus taking the record from that team. Australia have been at the pinnacle of world cricket for many years now and their dominance of the sport shows no signs of diminishing. In reviewing them now I will look at the team they presently have and hopefully start to examine why they have reached this position.
The team is now captained by Steve Waugh one of the two Waugh twins . Steve Waugh is probably a cricketer’s cricketer. His captaincy is very strong and he aims to get the team on top and once they are in a strong position Australia show no mercy. In many respects the transition from Mark Taylor to Steve Waugh has been completely seamless and this has been to the benefit of the team. Australia have tended to pick their team and from it one is chosen to be captain and Waugh exemplifies this. As a batsman Waugh is a ruthless accumulator of runs but it would be wrong to dismiss him as one without flair. Waugh scores runs all around the wicket and rarely gets bogged down by either pace or spin. Often at the end of his innings it’s hard to remember a particular shot as he has such remarkable consistency.
Steve Waugh usually comes in at 5 and such is the strength of the top order it is rare for him to reach the wicket with the team in a crisis. The openers Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden often get the side away strongly and the beauty of these two is that they score at a reasonable rate for test cricket which again is a factor which can assist in preparing for a result in the match. An alternative opener would be Greg Blewett who again is an immensely capable batsman.
Before Steve Waugh comes in look at the choice Australia can have – Justin Langer immensely strong, superb concentration or Ricky Ponting or Mark Waugh who is not far behind his brother or Stuart Law who was such a huge success in county cricket last season. All of these have test averages which many England players would be pleased to achieve. With such a strong team as this players like Michael Bevan who have never let their county or country down can’t get into the team. However even the wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist who is good enough to be in the team as a batsman but has proved since taking the gloves from Ian Healy that he is a brilliant keeper.
As well as being consistently able to post high first innings scores a crucial part of Australia’s success is the ability to dismiss their opponents twice. All their 11 wins have involved taking the full 20 wickets. In Glenn McGrath they have a world class bowler who acknowledges that his season at Worcestershire has helped him tremendously. McGrath is not about pace alone as he is a very intelligent bowler who searches out batsman’s weaknesses. Brett Lee has joined the attack and as yet he is a raw uncompromising fast bowler. Lee is new to the team and more than handy with the bat. With Bichel he promises to be the future of the Aussie attack.
As a spin bowler Shane Warne is one of two greatest in the world, the other being Murilitharan of Sri Lanka. Warne though is charismatic and full of character. It is hoped that injuries and a streak of self-destructiveness will not rob cricket of his huge talent. In his absence Stuart MacGill is a superb bowler who would have more test appearances and wickets but for Warne. Colin Miller can also deputise successfully.
A lot is made of the development of sportsmen in Australia through their national sports academy. The academy takes promising sportsmen (and women) at an early age and like the college sports system in the USA helps develop that talent in an academic atmosphere. This helps players reach their potential and breeds an attitude within their sportsmen that winning is the major objective. In team sports Australia seems also to develop a strong team ethic that failure to achieve your individual goals within the game is letting your team down.
Australia is deservedly at the top of the game of cricket. It can be said that they are there because the world game has problems. England are struggling to develop world class players, the West Indies are in serious decline, India, Pakistan and South Africa are all being pulled apart by the betting scandals which are disfiguring the game. But this would be being very churlish, Australia are at the top because they have exceptional players, a superb team ethic and a structure which ensures a continuity of their success.