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Aussie Dominance - How Long? |
A featured blog by
Madhusudhan GR published on July
10th, 2005.
 We
have seen the Aussie dominance for the last 5
years and more. What is the future? Are they
going to dominate in the same way?
Were the blips faced against England (in
Twenty20, ODI ), Somerset, Bangladesh recently a
big thing at all? Do they want to downplay at
the beginning and then show their might?
I tried some digging into statistics (as is my
forte) and came up with some revelations. The
statistics were not looked at, just the number
of matches played by the different players in
the Aussie team were looked at and that itself
gave a good picture. The time-period taken was 5
years from the NZ series that was completed
recently back to 2000-01 test series against WI.
A total of 59 test matches have been played in
the 5 years that has gone by. The Waugh
brothers, Colin Miller, Damien Fleming, Michael
Slater have played in some of the test matches
and gone on to announce their retirement.
There are others who have played in some test
matches but disappeared probably because of
their age being held against them (like Lehmann)
or they didn’t perform well enough. The entire
list is: Greg Blewett, Matthew Elliott, Darren
Lehmann, Martyn Love, Andy Symonds, Andy Bichel,
Brad Williams, Nathan Bracken, Brad Hogg, Nathan
Hauritz, Shane Watson. I feel that most of these
players playing again for Cricket Australia is
very unlikely.
 Hayden
and Gilchrist are the only ones who have played
ALL the test-matches. That must be a lot of
effort on their bodies, especially with the
amount of ODIs played also. Langer and Ponting
come close having missed 4 and 5 matches each.
Martyn has played in 46 test matches. So in all,
these 5 batsmen have missed about 22 matches put
together in all, which is probably the reason
also that they form the cream of the Aussie
batting.
Among the newcomers, Katich has played 16 and
Clarke has played in 12 test matches. These
batsmen are still picking up the nuances of test
match, even while scoring well in whatever
chances that have come their way. These 2 have
come into the Playing XI and replaced others in
the team like the Waugh brothers, Lehmann, etc.
So, that is the induction of the Young Blood for
the Aussie team. In the Batting Department,
there doesn't seem to be any issues with the
aging of the team members and usually, as has
been seen in the history of the game, the
batsmen can contribute even in their late 30's
as well.
 Among
the bowlers, Gillespie has played in 52 of the
test matches that Australia have played whereas
the numbers are different for the others -
McGrath 47, Shane Warne 39, Brett Lee 32, Stuart
MacGill 21, Kasprowicz 17. This is where the
Aussies are going to have a problem. Ideally,
Brett Lee should have been bowling more than he
has been doing. Of late, Kasper has been
replacing him since he has been taking the
wickets for the team but where is the grooming
happening for the bowling department?
The spinning department is taken care by Shane
Warne or Stuart MacGill mostly. This is not a
worry since the spinners, especially the leggies
have a typical long shelf-period. The concern is
more of the fast bowlers - What happens if
McGrath decides to retire?
Shane Warne will be much more of a terror only
if McGrath or anyone of the opening bowlers can
run through the top-order and give him leeway.
Otherwise, he will not be able to make much of
an impact. Gillespie is more of a support bowler
and without McGrath doesn’t show the inclination
required to step up as the lead pacer.
Brett Lee is not getting enough bowling at
all!!! With due respects to the talent of
Kasper, he should retire at the end of the
Ashes. That means there is no second string of
pace bowlers for Aussies - which is what Dennis
Lillee had to say recently.
With limited bowling options (if and when
McGrath decides to hang up his boots), the
strong batting lineup will not be able to
steamroll past their opponents as they used to.
This was evident in the series against India in
2003-04. Without McGrath and Warne in the team,
they were dead meat for the Sehwags, Dravids,
Laxmans. This, I feel, was basically a preview
of what is going to happen.
I think that is what is going to happen to the
Aussie team. Everything goes in a cycle. They
were on a high for a good long period. What is
going to happen in the near future? How are
things going to go for the Aussies? Which
direction? DOWN!!!
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