THE END OF AN ERA AND THE DAWN OF A NEW ONE

Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief. FINALLY, the Australian dominance over Test cricket has ended. The cricketing world has witnessed the unnatural phenomena of an Australian team losing 3 Test matches in a row since 1988. Humble pie has become the staple diet of Ricky Ponting; their battle scarred captain sporting a bruised ego. His recent post match interviews have been a steady stream of excuses on behalf of an underperforming team that’s scraping the barrel to replace the superstars of the last decade. Ponting, who played a big part in the success of Steve Waugh’s world dominating all conquering team, has become the scapegoat for the shortfalls of this team. I doubt that there’s a single cricketer in Australia who envies Ponting’s current situation, especially as we approach an Ashes summer.

It’s evident that Ponting has the desire to mould a winning team under his own brand of captaincy. A brand of captaincy that would carve a niche for himself as one of the great cricket captains following the feats of Bradman, Hasset, Benaud, and Waugh in Australian sporting folklore. In all fairness, there is no shame in that for such a gifted and accomplished player who has given so much to the sport he loves. He makes his desire obvious with every inning that he goes in to bat with tough gritty knock that holds it all together around him. He has put away his signature hooks and pulls for less risky run scoring. He doesn’t dance down the track to the spinners as much as he used to do, but he still scores steadily against them. His inspired fielding belies his age as it seems that he has not lost even a degree of sharpness with his near superhuman speed and agility.  However, a gutsy captain and a team of fit athletes is not by far a winning formula in the game of cricket.

Performances show that Australia is still a very competitive team, but there are a few slip-ups in recent times in their usually flawless resume.

• Lost a home Test series to the South Africans in the December 2009; the first home series loss in 15 years.
• Lost a Test against Pakistan in July 2010; the first in 15 years.
• Lost the number 1 spot in Test rankings to South Africa in August of 2009 and slipped down to number 5 since then.
• Lost 6 consecutive international’s over all forms of cricket between July and November 2010.
• The first home ODI series loss to the Sri Lankan’s in November 2010.

In addition, Australia’s win/loss ratio has plummeted to an all time low within the last 10 years. The following table shows the Test and ODI results of the Australian team split in to two periods; 1998 – 2008 and 2008 to the present. 

Format	Period	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win/Loss Ratio
Test	1998-2008	114	81	16	17	5.06
	2008-Present	35	17	11	7	1.54
ODI	1998-2008	288*	207	67	5	3.08
	2008-Present	78**	51	23	0	2.21

 

These statistics show that the Australian win loss ratio has fallen from 5.06 to 1.54 in tests, and from 3.08 to 2.21 in ODI’s within the last 2 years; a hideous statistic by Australian standards. They clearly indicate that Australia are on a downward spiral and are steadily losing their aura of invincibility. It’s evident that they’ve lost their x-factor by the loss of players like Hayden, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath.

We saw a once great West Indian team fall after the collective retirements of Richards, Dujon, Marshal, Greenidge and Haynes. This ended an era of West Indian dominance over cricket and almost two decades down the line, the repercussions of their retirements still echo in the West Indies. Not even the likes of Lara, Richardson, Walsh or Ambrose could arrest the decline. Even though they are a decade apart, the similarities between the rise and fall of these two teams are uncanny. The retirements of Hayden, Gilchrist, Langer, Warne and McGrath are having a similar effect on the fortunes of the Australian team. History, statistics and recent performances all point towards an implosion of Australian cricket.

Finally, is this really the end of the era of Australian dominance? Without a doubt, the rest of the cricketing world will be painting bull’s-eyes on effigies of the Australian’s backs in the midst of formulating many a vengeful campaign. They finally have a chance to grind the tormentors of their generation in to the dust. I say don’t count on it. They’ve been given a harsh reminder of what it’s like to lose frequently again. If the Australian teams of the past have taught us anything, then it’s that they are going to come back even harder at each and every opponent. I have a strong notion that we haven’t seen the last of Ponting & Co or the best of them either.

- Statistics courtesy of statsguru from cricinfo.com.

*   9 Matches did not yield results.

** 4 Matches did not yield results.