An era of exquisite dominance which stretched for over a decade came to an end yesterday. England's victory over Australia at Oval hammered the last nail on the coffin to end the glorious record of the once presumed invincible Australian cricket team. The ultimate benchmark to all its competitors, has fallen with a resounding thud in absence of its veteran navigators.
Remember the days when a score of 250 in ODI's was considered to be a winning target even on a good pitch. Who would have thought then , that a staggering score of 434 was possible to score, let alone chase. The austerity with which international cricket is played today is a gift of this team to the world of cricket. The revelatory approach of this team revolutionized this game forever. No longer were there shaky starts, openers started amassing runs at mindnumbing rates. The long lost romance for the game was suddenly revived with full furor and zeal. Test cricket saw its redemption in the likes of Mark Waugh , Ian Healy and Michael Bevan. Further, the legacy was successfully carried forward by one of the finest opening pairs of cricketing history-Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden. The pugnacity with which the Australians played test cricket ushered in a radically new approach towards this game. A perplexed cricketing fraternity steered by the veteran pundits argued that the success of Aussie batsman relied on the fact that they never had to face their own bowlers. The trio comprising of the immaculate McGrath , the wizard of leg spin, Warne and the ferocious Brett Lee further accentuated the invincibility of Aussies.
Clearly, the state of the team is now no longer the same. The formidable bench strength of bygone time now looks fragile and weak.The retirement these legends has certainly created a vacuum in the team. The once prevalent belief that 'We can come out of any situation' is now history. The team has started to depend more on individual heroics to achieve a win, which too have not been so frequent in the recent past.
The Australian team without a shadow of doubt needs to rediscover itself. Else, someone needs to step into their shoes to ensure that cricket again does not fall prey to the stagnant phase of the 80's when the Caribbean dominance was squashed by the Indians.
