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How long will Australia’s dominance last for?

16th April, 2014
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Michael Clarke. (AFP PHOTO / LUIGI BENNETT)
Roar Guru
16th April, 2014
31
1139 Reads

This year has been superb for the Australian Test cricket team. A dominant display against the dormant and despised Poms was taken to even higher highs with a remarkable last-gasp series win against world number one South Africa.

The likes of Chris Rogers, David Warner, Steve Smith, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson have proven how good they are since late 2013. But the question is; how long will the Aussies’ current dominance last for?

Right now the Aussies are the in-form team in the Test arena, with a unique yet effective mix of younger stars and wily veterans combining like two marvelous Starburst snakes at once.

Opposition teams haven’t been able to handle the mix of the skiddy Harris and nasty Johnson opening the bowling, or the curious and subdued Rogers mixed with the outspoken yet highly skilled menace that is Warner opening the batting.

The only problems in those combos are the age factors; only Warner is under the age of 30, with Rogers being 36, Johnson 32 and Harris 34. Hearing that is like hearing the chicken nuggets you ate the other day were from McDonalds; not helpful.

The older generation of Rogers, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Haddin, Peter Siddle, Johnson and Harris may have helped to develop Smith, Warner and Nathan Lyon, but those eight 30-plus warriors won’t have many years left in them, except maybe for Clarke.

Siddle is already skating on thin ice, with James Pattinson replacing him in South Africa, as well as Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Ben Cutting and Jackson Bird waiting in the wings to snare the other pace spots.

When batsmen like Rogers and Watson go, will Alex Doolan and Shaun Marsh be able to step in as efficiently as they did in South Africa? Probably not. Will any wicket keeper live up to Haddin after his departure? Hell no. No new keeper/batsman can come in and save batting collapses several times during an Ashes series and take remarkable catches into their mid-30’s like Haddin is doing.

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I’m going to part with all Test teams’ average ages based on their line-up in their most recently played Tests.

Respect it Australia, it’ll be gone before we all know it.

Australia:
Rogers – 36, Warner – 27, Doolan – 28, Clarke – 33, Smith – 24, Watson – 32, Haddin – 36, Johnson – 32, Harris – 34, Pattinson – 23, Lyon – 26.

Bangladesh:
Iquarterbackal – 25, Rahman – 25, Kayes – 27, Haque – 22, Al-Hasan – 27, Rahim – 25, N. Hossain – 22, Mahmudullah – 27, Gazi – 22, A. Hossain – 24, Razzak – 31.

England:
Cook – 29, Carberry – 33, Bell – 32, Pietersen – 33, Balance – 24, Stokes – 22, Bairstow – 24, Borthwick – 23, Broad – 27, Anderson – 31, Rankin – 29.

India:
Dhawan – 28, Vijay – 30, Pujara – 26, I. Sharma – 25, Kohli – 25, R.Sharma – 26, Rahane – 25, Dhoni – 32, Jadeja – 25, Khan – 35, Shami – 24.

New Zealand:
Fulton – 35, Rutherford – 24, Williamson – 23, Latham – 22, McCullum – 32, Anderson – 23, Watling – 28, Neesham – 23, Southee – 25, Wagner – 28, Boult – 24.

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Pakistan:
Manzoor – 27, Shehzad – 22, Ali – 29, Y. Khan – 36, Ul-Haq – 39, Shafiq – 28, Ahmed – 26, Rehman – 34, Talha – 25, Ajmal – 36, J. Khan – 24.

South Africa:
Smith – 33, Petersen – 33, Elgar – 26, Amla – 31, de Villiers – 30, du Plessis – 29, Duminy – 30, Philander – 29, Abbott – 26, Steyn – 30, Morkel – 29.

Sri Lanka:
Karunaratne – 25, Silva – 27, Sangakkara – 36, Jayawardene – 36, Chandimal – 24, Matthews – 26, Vithanage – 23, Perera – 31, Mendis – 29, Lakmal – 27, Pradeep – 27.

West Indies:
Brathwaite – 21, Powell – 24, Edwards – 29, Samuels – 33, Chanderpaul – 39, Deonarine – 30, Ramdin – 29, Sammy – 30, Narine – 25, Permaul – 24, Best – 32.

Team —- Average age
Australia —- 30 years old
Bangladesh —- 25 years old
England —- 28 years old
India —- 27 years old
New Zealand —- 26 years old
Pakistan —- 30 years old
South Africa —- 29.5 years old
Sri Lanka —- 28 years old
West Indies —- 29 years old

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