Such was the dominance of their batsmen that Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken and Shaun Tait didn’t get to bat during the entire tournament.
Such was the dominance of their batsmen that Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken and Shaun Tait didn’t get to bat during the entire tournament. The batsmen bat and the bowlers bowl — the way it’s meant to be. It’s not easy to take over a team that is playing good cricket and make it better, but Ricky Ponting and John Buchanan could do that, writes Ashish Magotra.
Mention ‘Australia’ to any cricket follower, and the inevitable reply will be ‘Champions’. The tone of the comment will vary according to where the loyalties of the supporter lie.
But it is probably no exaggeration to say the Australians are the most disliked of cricketers; disliked because they crush the other sides; disliked because of their superiority; disliked because of the arrogance that comes with winning; disliked because they have been on top for so long; disliked because their domination seems nowhere near the end.
No one likes losing so it’s natural for the other nations to not like them. But in a world full of percentage cricketing nations, Australia stands out as a team who play the game as it is meant to be played. The lack of competition from the other cricketing nations has meant that this team is forced to think up new challenges and the battle for places in the side is what drives them.
Take Gilchrist for example. His 10 previous outings in the Caribbean had fetched him just 304 runs. “It’s been a frustrating sort of tournament for me,” he says. “I was part of some partnerships, scoring 20s, 30s, 40s and even a couple of fifties without really nailing down a big score. The standards that this group sets are so high and if you feel you’re not meeting them, you tend to put pressure on yourself and even doubt yourself. I got the belief to rise above that from my teammates. It’s amazing how much that can lift you.”
In reaching four consecutive finals and winning three successive titles, the Australians have laid down the gauntlet for anyone to challenge them. But it won’t be easy.
McGrath may be going but the conveyor belt of the Australian Cricket Academy seems to be producing players of class and grit like no other nation in the world.
“We’ve dominated this tournament like no team has dominated a tournament before,” he said later. “We’ve never really been tested. In ‘03, there were a few situations where it looked like we were going to lose. In ‘99, it was the exact opposite. After two or three games, we had to win every game from there on.”
The closest victory margin in terms of runs was 53 in the final. While chasing, they never lost more than three wickets. Such was the dominance of their batsmen that Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken and Shaun Tait didn’t have to bat during the entire tournament. The batsmen bat and the bowlers bowl — the way it’s meant to be.
Ask Ponting about the secret to their continual improvement and he thanks the departing coach John Buchanan: “It’s not easy to take over a team that is playing good
cricket and make it better, he’s been able to do that with me, with Gilly, with Glenn, with Matty Hayden, all those guys have taken their games further.
“To go through and play the cricket that we have, make many very, very good international cricket teams ordinary at different times, has been special. Every day that we’ve gone to training, they’ve left at least half an hour before us so that when we get there everything is perfectly set up for us to put our spikes on and our gear on and go on training. There’s no doubt we’ve been better prepared here than in any tournament I’ve been involved in.”
Australia is already looking ahead. Their coach John Buchanan, who took over in 1999, has been part of their most successful period is retiring. As a coach, he was one who delved in the ‘Art of War’ and looked to expand the horizons in every possible sense. Glenn McGrath will be gone as well. In the last year, they have lost Damien Martyn, Shane Warne and Justin Langer too. All stalwarts, all great players and yet their loss hasn’t been felt as acutely as many visualised.
A new breed will start taking over and perhaps this is the opening that the rest of the world had been waiting for. Well, good luck to them.
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