The spectacular decline of Australian cricket

So what exactly has gone so terribly wrong? It’s not that they are as hopeless as the West Indies were when their era of domination ended. Australia, unlike the West Indies, are still considered major contenders at ICC events. Though West Indies have experienced some resurgence in recent times, Australia still remain an overall better side. Though no longer a force in Tests and more often than not struggling in T20s, they still are a competitive ODI side. The comparison here, though, is not with West Indies. It is an analysis of a once-dominant Australian side that used to win half the battle before even making their way out to the pitch.

To begin with, they were never really able to recover from losing all their top stars in such a quick succession. The recent retirement of Ricky Ponting officially brought an end to the career of the last remaining hero of their era of domination. The youngsters called upon to replace members of the old guard have flattered to deceive and have not been able to cement their place in the team. Batting remains their biggest worry and is hardly of any quality.

The only world-class batsman, skipper Michael Clarke, has had to carry the team on his shoulders to an extent that has perhaps led to the resurfacing of his old back injury. In the last 5 years, he has also gone from sporting blonde hair to having almost no hair at all, which perhaps signifies the load of responsibilities at his disposal. Another quality player, Shane Watson, though world-class in ODIs and T20s, is yet to establish himself as a Test specialist. About the rest of their batsmen, the less said the better.

Unlike batting, their fast bowling arsenal, however, bears impressive, if not an intimidating look. Long gone are the Glenn McGraths, Brett Lees, Jason Gillespies, etc. The current pace battery boasts of the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Clint McKay, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle etc., and is good enough to give a headache to most opposition teams. However, on the slower side, spinners like Nathan Lyon and Xavier Doherty can never be as good as Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill. Lyon’s journey from being an Adelaide Oval groundsman to Australia’s premier spinner is nothing short of a fairytale, but is yet to translate into any on-field success. Thus, it is hardly surprising that their stock of spinners is getting emptier by the day.

The standard of fielding, the high level of which was a hallmark of the previous generation, has dipped. Another lethal weapon – mental and verbal warfare – of today is nowhere near where it used to be few years back. The likes of David Warner and Matthew Wade should understand that their constant chirruping is of no use as most teams, particularly India, are not shy of giving it back to them. This can be attributed to Saurav Ganguly, who, during the epic 2001 series, showed that Australia could be beaten in mental warfare. The rest of the world took notice and things are the way they are today. Adding to their misfortunes are disciplinary issues like the infamous “Homework-Gate” and the recent ban on David Warner.

With Michael Clarke struggling for fitness, it already looks over for Australia in the forthcoming Ashes against their old rivals. Their troubles have been compounded with David Warner being banned till the Ashes, for beating up an England player. However, they are still capable of getting their act together and give England a tough fight in the battle over the historic urn, rather than going down meekly. And who knows, they may well rise like a phoenix from the ashes and take us all by surprise. However, all current signs predict an Ashes capitulation for the men from Down Under.

As a fan, however, I have reasons to be optimistic. And to quote Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight, “The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you the dawn is coming”. May be the dawn is really upon us.

But the keyword here is may be. May be…We just don’t know when the dawn will come. Do we?