When it comes to cricket, are Australia the new England?

 

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By Alec Swann, 17 Nov 2010 Alec Swann is a Roar Pro

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 Ashes, Australian Cricket, Cricket, England cricket

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It’s common knowledge that Australia was once part of the British Empire, but there seems to be a strange desire for the former colony to emulate its past master. From a cricketing perspective, the two nations have traditionally been worlds apart. Results, approach, behaviour, administration, there has always been a marked difference.

But recent events suggest that could well be a thing of the past.

In the past few months we’ve seen a side virtually incapable of winning games of cricket, a side unsure of who should be in their best XI, senior players no longer consistently producing the goods, a bowling attack without a performing spinner and a captain under increasing pressure, all overseen by a selection panel as indecisive as a woman in a shopping centre.

And then we have England.

The nation who, over the years, have made all of the above an art form have been usurped by their arch enemy, a nation that, in complete contrast, have perfected the exact opposite.

A well-drilled outfit that wins games of cricket with their main players performing, a successful spinner, a captain in control and a selection panel that makes consistent, well thought out decisions.

So what is going on?

Well, it reflects the respective countries’ standing in the current world order with Australia back among the pack for the first time in a more than a decade and England boasting as good a side (or at least one that has lasted longer than less than a year before and during the 2005 Ashes) as they have had for quite a while.

One has been on the up over the past 18 months while the other, while far from going into freefall, has descended rather than ascended the hill.

And the relative positions of the two sides gives context to the state of affairs in each camp.

When Australia were wiping the floor with all that stood in front of them, they won games they had no right to, their key players produced time and again, their spinner had no equal, the captain could do no wrong and the selectors were in an enviable position of being able to replace personnel without upsetting the apple cart.

No, they don’t rule the roost, they lose when they should win, previously untouchable players are having their right to be in the national side continually questioned, they don’t really know who should carry the spin bowling burden, Ricky Ponting is a lost series away from having the captain’s armband removed and the selectors, as a 17-man Ashes squad would indicate, are unsure of what direction to go in.

So for all the Pom-bashing that routinely occurs – you whine all the time, your beer’s not cold enough, the weather’s awful etc, etc – if a national institution such as the cricket team decide they want to be English, then what hope does the rest of the country have?

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