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| Friday, 24 December 2004 |
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Australia - the greatest side of our times by Renuke Wijayawardhane How many of the modern day teams can win a Test match after being 5 wickets down for 78? A few, perhaps. But how many sides are capable of doing it in such regular fashion? Only Australia. And how many sides can be 5 wickets down for 78 runs and still win the test match by almost 500 runs? Only Australia, for sure. For a while we have been wondering whether the present Australian Test team can be considered as the 'best ever' Test team in the modern era. Perhaps we could put a rest to this argument now. To me the current Australian test side is, by far, the best test team that I have come to know of. It is fair to make a comment like that when you have a team with no less than eleven potential match winners who can win matches single-handedly under any circumstances. What makes Australia such an invincible side? It is not difficult to realise why if one takes the trouble to analyse the composition of this wonderful side. It has got all the right ingredients for a world-beating side. Right at the top you have two remarkable opening batsmen reminiscent of the Grenidge-Haynes era, who have consistently laid solid platforms for huge totals. Their styles can be contrasting? One with a flair for aggression and the other displaying more serenity, a sort of a grafter with a renewed hunger for big hundreds. Next up is the captain who possesses the natural ability to pile on the runs. A calm and collected customer who is, perhaps, the most consistent batsman of 2004 occupies the number 4 position. The rest of the middle order contains a refreshing blend of experience and pure youthful talent. If you thought that we are done with batting line up just hold your breath? The number 7 position is taken up by arguably the most exciting cricketer of the modern times who is a symbol of the success his team has had during the past few years. He also happens to be the wicket keeper with the highest batting average in tests to-date. Then to the bowlers; starting with the best wrist spinner the world has ever seen, followed by two pace bowlers who seem to be bowling better and better everyday. And lastly the world's best pace bowler among the current crop makes the team as complete as Australia. When you have a side packed with such formidable players, there cannot be any room for blokes such as Brett Lee, who could just walk into any other test team on any given day. Same applies to Simon Katich who has not put a foot wrong so far in his brief career. Such is the quality of this Australian side. The form shown by Australia's frontline batsmen has been remarkable. Four of the top seven batsmen average over 51 and the other three over 45 in tests. The top seven account for an astonishing 90 test centuries amongst themselves with a majority of them coming during the past six years. They all maintain fabulous strike rates of well over 50%, with Adam Gilchrist leading the way with 81%. As a result Australia has been able to score over four runs per over in tests on a regular basis. One need not look beyond the first test played against Pakistan in Perth recently to analyse this. When your side is struggling at 78 for 5 you would expect some sort of sanity and stability to be established from the batsmen to follow. But not when you are in Australia. They had known that the initial threat, if any, would come from Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami and they were prepared for it. Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist launched a spectacular onslaught against the Pakistani bowling? The kind of counter attack we have not seen for a long time. The Langer-Gilchrist partnership yielded 152 runs in less than 29 overs and Australia ended the day at 357 for 8. Of course their batting is not without any flaws. The weakness shown by the Australian batsmen when confronted with genuine spin, can perhaps, be identified as their only drawback. This was amply demonstrated in the two test series Australia played in Sri Lanka and India in 2004. When it comes to Australia's bowling, the story is the same. Their awesome bowling attack has been able to simply demolish the opposition batting line-ups without much sweat. The four main bowlers - McGrath, Gillespie, Kasprowicz and Warne - have accounted for a staggering 1354 test wickets todate. In the year 2004 alone they have taken 201 wickets in 13 tests, which clearly shows the kind of ferocity and the venom they possess in their bowling department. It's not a matter of just one bowler running through a side. In fact all four frontline bowlers are strike bowlers and they have demonstrated that on a number of occasions. That, perhaps, is one difference between Australia and other test playing countries. When you have a team with such high calibre performers, the results can only be exceptional. During the past 6 years Australia has lost only two test series ? To Sri Lanka in 1999 (0-1) and to India (1-2), both away from home. During this period they have drawn three test series against West Indies in 1999 (2-2), New Zealand in 2001/2 (0-0) and India 2003 (1-1). Apart from that the Australians have been able to win as much as 16 test series against all test playing sides, both at home and away, except Bangladesh against whom Australia won the only two home test matches in 2003. India was the only country where they had failed to win a series since 1969/70. The Aussies were able to win that 'last frontier' in 2004 when they beat India in India 2-1. With that win the Aussies have conquered the world. In spite of their performances Australia believe that it could still improve, which clearly shows the greatness of the side. The cricket world has already seen what this side is capable of. The Aussies are definitely on a roll at the moment and judging by their recent record they would continue to torment oppositions in the years to come. |
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