"I hope the national selectors were watching." Sourav Ganguly responding to Ramiz Raja's suggestion that he was like a school boy in the field during the Kolkata Knight Riders' stirring defence of a low total against the Delhi Daredevils
If Australia are to win their 17th game on the trot, treading into territory no team has ever tiptoed, they will have to score 413 runs to beat India. It will be the second-highest run chase in the history of the game. Consequently, every Indian and anti-Australia fan is salivating at the prospect of Ricky Ponting’s remarkable winning run being cut short. Is this the end of a dynasty?
Robert Craddock, who my colleague (hello Gnasher) refers to as Crash Craddock, thinks there is enough evidence to suggest the Australian aura is diminishing:
Since the start of the Sydney Test, India has stood toe-to-toe and eyeball-to-eyeball with Australia, highlighting some deficiencies and cutting down some lofty reputations.
Australia is still outstanding, but it is not what it was and nor could it expect to be after the retirement of a handful of long-serving champions.
The champs are not chumps but India has proved one thing — they are gettable.
The rest of the world will feed off the brazen Indian uprising in a series in which the great Ricky Ponting has averaged just 16, Michael Clarke just 23 and, shock of all shocks, a four-pronged Australian pace battery in this Test has been completely outbowled by three unsung Indian rivals.
The thought that Australia’s world dominance is coming to an end is always an enticing prospect, but champion teams tend to bounce back off the ropes quicker than most. After the 2005 Ashes, Ponting set out to really put his mark on the team and has done so brilliantly, if not so appealingly for the rest of the world. Or, indeed, for cricket itself. “Win at all costs” is a mantra most teams would like to obey, but only Australia have had the tools and balls to execute it in the past 20 years. In doing so, it hasn’t endeared them to the rest of the world; their cricket is pure, their method is not. As Mike Atherton said last week, “being nice will always be associated with losing in Ponting’s mind”.
I’m not convinced this is the end of Australia’s dynasty or aura - call it what you will. India have upset them in many ways, and although the rumpus of the past few weeks scarred cricket irrevocably, it does at least show Australia’s softer underbelly. Not that I’m advocating racism or severe sledging as the solution to beating them…
They hate teams fighting tooth and nail, eyeball to eyeball, and yet it is what they apparently crave from touring teams. England did it in 2005, winding up Ponting and co so much that they lost all composure and focus. The same has happened with India, albeit in far more contensious circumstances. It’s almost as though they’ve forgotten what it is like to be challenged, on or off the pitch, much in the same way England have forgotten how to win.
The thought of India winning is less than appealing on a personal level - I hope and pray they are gracious, for their (and the media’s) sake - but the prospect of Australia’s winning run coming to an end is far sweeter.
Yes, it will be a fascinating day’s cricket today.
I disagree that Australia lost all composure and focus in 2005. Certainly they did so relatively. But there were many periods during that series where Australia were all over England like a rash. It was just that England’s composure and focus out-did Australia’s.
Not that it wasn’t apparent that Australia were unnerved at times - they patently lost their way a few times. But only at times, IMHO.
But today, anyway, I’m looking forward to Ponting’s big double hundred and glorious victory!
And you are exactly right about the Aussies hating the opponent that scraps as they do. That’s why the South Africans are amongst the most hated and feared amongst the Aussies - because their brand is almost exactly the same as Australia’s.
But I don’t think it is something than can be manufactured. India, for example, are most effective against Australia when they just get on and play their style of cricket to the best of their ability. Which is considerable, of course.
- I hope and pray they are gracious, for their (and the media’s) sake
How gracious were the English when they won the Aussies. And how ungracious were the Indians when they won against England earlier this year
Hang on. Anyone reading this would think Australia were about to lose a test series at home. In fact, they faced a team with one of the best top orders in history (despite having recently lost two of the greatest bowlers in history) and still beat them in the first two tests.
“Ricky Ponting refuses to believe Australia’s global domination is over”
“AUSTRALIA have again crashed back to earth”
We’ve heard it all before after the Series loss to India in 2001, the Ashes loss in 2005 and the ODI losses just before the World Cup last year. Are our cricket Journalists this stupid to continue to beat the same old dead horse?
You bunch of cabbages. Once again you have proven what we already knew; you are not good at Journalism. End of rant.
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