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Pakistan great Wasim Akram has wasted no time predicting a gloomy future for Australian cricket in the post Warne and McGrath era after they failed to make the final of the Twenty20 World Championship.
Akram believes Australia will struggle to beat India in their seven-match one-day tour starting this week, and said after years of Australian domination, it was refreshing to see the Test and one-day world champions fall short of the Twenty20 final.
“Fans had got bored of the one-sided dominance of Australia and teams from India and Pakistan have given a new lease of life to cricket and these teams can go places and dominate world cricket,” Akram said.
“Once Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath retired, it was only a matter of time before Australia would struggle and they will find it tough to beat India in India and also struggle to get 20 wickets in a Test outside Australia.”
After twice triumphing in cut-throat games during the tournament, Australia finally succumbed to India by 15 runs in their semi-final in Durban on Saturday.
It brought to a close a tumultuous series for the Australians in which everything seemed to happen in threes.
Australia first arrived three men short. They won three games, lost three, and ended with three players suffering hamstring strains.
Given the team had just come off a four-month break, it was always expected there would be the odd niggle here and there, but the attrition rate playing the shortest, and arguably most intense, form of the game has in fact proven significant.
Shane Watson and Michael Hussey will miss the India tour because of hamstring strains. Ricky Ponting will tour, but will be likely be sidelined for at least the first week. Was he not captain, Ponting would also likely have headed home.
Cricket Australia has announced Brad Haddin, after initially being named Ponting’s short-term replacement, would remain with the squad for the full tour in place of Hussey.
West Australian batsman Adam Voges, who captained Australia A on their recent tour to Pakistan, has been named to fill in the for the skipper, while allrounder James Hopes had previously been included for Watson.
Australia have admitted the intensity of Twenty20 cricket during the inaugural tournament – which team physio Alex Kountouris rated at 70 per cent of a one-day game in just 40 per cent of the time – had initially caught them by surprise.
“It’s so fast,” coach Tim Nielsen said.
“We’ve only played one-off games in the past and so playing in a tournament where obviously every game counts, really means the pressure stacks up a bit, and then you factor in all the travelling and training and it’s quite an intense few weeks.”
Nielsen said playing one-dayers in India would now seem more like “a lazy old day in the sun playing Test cricket”.
But despite the injuries, the coach believes the tournament has been a worthwhile introduction for what will be a gruelling 18 months ahead for the national team.
“I think it’s probably been a really good physical workout for us, and it’s been nice that the bowlers can get through four overs and they don’t have to flog themselves early in the year, so hopefully there is a lot of benefit to get out of it,” Nielsen said.
Matthew Hayden was far and away Australia’s best batsman, scoring four half centuries in smashing 265 runs at an average of 88.33.
But it was the bowlers who most impressed, with Brett Lee taking a hat-trick in his first series back from ankle surgery, Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson both performing well, and Stuart Clark showing off new variations in pace in taking 12 wickets at an average of 12.
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