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Why
Aussies are Number One
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- William Howarth
For the past decade, Australia has been at the forefront of international cricket. There are many reasons as to why Australia have dominated both Test and One Day International Cricket and have also revolutionized this sport taking it to the next level both playing wise and in the way we run cricketing organizations. There are many reasons as to why Australia is the best nation in international cricket.
Up until very recently in the past 15 years,
countries were able to rely on the cricketing
talent coming through the ranks themselves until
one day showing that they were capable of
playing at the highest level. It is false that
the current players we have now are there
because they made it there themselves, they made
it there partly because of the superb youth
system we have today. For instance if players
now were able to make it to the peak of cricket
by themselves, there should be hundred Sachin Tendulkar’s playing for India… a very scary thought to anyone who isn’t Indian. But it was not until the 1980’s that cricketers were to be groomed through to the top level.
Even at the grassroots level of cricket, there are proper ‘Cricket Australia’ funded youth programs for cricketers to represent their state in various age levels and there are even programs setup for children as young as five to learn how to play cricket properly (Milo ‘Have A Go’ Cricket). The cream of our cricketing talent goes to our world famous Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy (CBCA) in Adelaide. The CBCA plays a vital role in preparing young cricketers for the challenge of hopefully playing first class (domestic) cricket and hopefully going on to represent Australia in the future. Since the CBCA was established in 1987 it has helped through 121 first-class cricketers and also 31 players that have represented Australia in Test and ODI cricket in at least one form of the game. This shows how the CBCA has played its part in forming the team we have today. Cricket Australia is to thank for much of the success us Australians enjoy today.
The standard of our first class cricket today is very high and many players will rarely get a chance to represent out country. Many of them won’t ever get a call up in their career, though many would easily be able to play for another country. Players have to impress selectors usually over many seasons of cricket to have a chance to play for Australia if by chance a play retires or becomes injured. Many times it has been the luck of the draw if a player gets picked to play for Australia or not. For example a player may have been a top player for their state for many seasons but as soon as an opportunity arises he may be out of form and may have to wait months if not years before another opportunity arises. Good examples of players that have been left out of the Australian team for many years are Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Darren Lehmann and Stuart MacGill. They all had the ability to play for Australia but were overlooked.
The Australian cricket team is run very professionally, even though it has been tarnished by incidents such as Shane Warne in his doping scandal and Glenn McGrath’s outburst in the West Indies tour earlier this year. Australian players are constantly pressured into keeping good form or they risk losing their spot, a good example of this is Steve Waugh who has not buckled under the pressure of critics and has performed time and time again. The Australian cricket team strives to be the best by having the best coaches, the best training techniques and is always trying to find out new ways to improve their game by such using such methods as video replay to find faults in a players action. The reason why Australia is one of the best, if not the best fielding side in the world is because of the rigorous training our players go through.
These reasons are why I honestly believe Australia have been the best cricket team in the past decade and will also stay at least near the top of the cricket standings now and in many years to come if other nations do not follow our example of how to properly train and bring through young players, and don’t have professionally run cricket organizations.
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