Australia Can Be The Number 1 Test Side Again

As the Australian team posed with their captain MichaelClarke with series winning trophy against Sri Lanka at Colombo yesterday itseemed as a team with a good understanding in between them and the boys aretotally free from all sort of pangs and confusions and focused more on cricket.Michael Clarke as a captain has delivered for his country after strings of poorseries for the last 18 months both with the bat and obviously with positivecaptaincy. 

After a disastrous Ashes campaign and a frustrating WorldCup the Aussies landed on the Lankan soil being underdogs. Very few hadexpected them to fair well on the turning tracks of Sri Lanka and all expected the Lankan spinnersto hassle the Australian batsmen who are not known masters against the turningball. But at the end of the day it had been the Aussies who had the last laugh.

What made the Aussies conquer Sri Lanka both in the ODIs and Test series hadbeen their discipline, determination and patience. The Australian batsmen nevertried anything beyond their abilities but kept their patience intact againstthe Sri Lankan spinners and just neutralized the Lankan spinners’ guile andvenom with astute technique and disciplined batting.

The Aussie batting was led by Mr. Cricketer, Micahel Husseywhose outstanding courage and patience simply left the Lankan spinners at bayeach moment when they looked dangerous. Hussey as usual anchored the Australianbatting and kept quiet when situations weren’t supporting his team andaccelerated when the situation demanded.

Hussey not only scored runs by himself but transferredinspiration among the new comers like Shaun Marsh and co to score runs atcrucial juncture of the match. That’s how the veterans play role in a team whenthe team is going through a transition period. Michael Hussey being the seniormost member of the side played the role of a mentor for the young guns andinspired them to deliver the best for Australia.

The debate was whether the Aussie bowlers will be able totest the Lankan batsmen as the Australians didn’t have a Mcgrath or Gillespieor a Shane Warne. They had Johnson who blows hot and blows cold, Shane Watsonwho can be lethal but over the years Watson’s batting has been instrumentalmore than his bowling and some youngsters who were neither a Mendis nor Lakmal.

But at Galle theresult of a disciplined bowling crushed the Lankan batting line up. Lyon,the young off-spinner didn’t get carried away with the turn on the pitch, butconcentrated more on line and length which are mostly needed on tracks turningsquare. While the fast bowlers pitched the ball up with a nagging line andlength using the late reverse swing effectively to script the victory note andthe Aussies’ fielding had been world-class for the first time in several years.

Michael Clarke can be called the modern Allan Border of thecurrent Aussie side. He took over the captaincy at that point of time when theAustralians were down mentally after the Ashes, World Cup and variouscontroversial selection issues. Clarke was not being provided with the sideswhich Steve Waugh or Ponting were being provided with. But still Clarke showedenough character and mental strength to make the team play as a unit. From theword go he had been positive and I never felt at any moment Clarke was tryingto settle in for a draw during the Test matches. Clarke’s captaincy had beenrefreshingly attacking throughout the Test series.

This Australian team, dubbed underdogs, before the start ofthe series completely outplayed Sri Lankain the Test series both in terms of temperament and technique. It might havebeen a 2-0 series win had weather not interfered at Kandy. 

This Australian team has hunger, this Australian team’sbowlers hunt as pack with discipline, this Australian side’s batsmen have thecharacter skill and patience to counter against adversity, this Australian sideenjoys themselves while fielding and this Australian team has a captain wholeads from the front either by his astute captaincy or his batting prowess.

Englandmight enjoy the top spot in the Test ranking but their reign can be challengedby this tough Australian side, which might lack the aura of invincibility ofthe last decade but are being blessed with enough character and enthusiasm toscript another golden era in the history of Australian cricket. This Australianside can regain their lost number 1 test spot.  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar