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As I watched the live scorecard from Adelaide barely moving throughout my work day on Tuesday, an unsettling realisation settled in my stomach: this Australian cricket team is ordinary.
The confluence of greatness that I enjoyed throughout my formative years (I am now 26) has now been irretrievably lost.
I do not mean to say that the Australian team is bad, for it is patently obvious that they are still a very good outfit. My point is that they are no different to South Africa or India or England (well, maybe a little different to England because we don’t steal all our players from South Africa).
On average, Australia is no better or worse than any of those teams.
The Australian team used to win all of its home series and most of the away series. Now we would only barely start as favourite at home to India and might even be underdogs to the Proteas.
The worst part of it all though isn’t simply losing games. It isn’t even letting a piddling little thing like the fourth highest chase in Australian cricket history deter us from chasing a win.
No, the worst part is that there is not a single intimidating player left in the Australian team. There is nobody left with the unmistakable ‘turn a game in a session’ potential.
During the Waugh and early Ponting eras, Australia had nearly half a dozen players who were a legitimate threat to swing a Test match in a single session. Hayden, Gilchrist and the younger Ponting could all do it with the bat, and McGrath and Warne could do it with the ball.
Sure, Ricky Ponting still has the gift, and he may well turn a few Test matches yet in the same way that Lara did for several years and Tendulkar is still (barely) doing.
But on the whole, he seems much like Obi Wan Kenobi standing on the Death Star flight deck: skills diminished and focused only on securing the next generation.
Aside from the fading skills of one master, what else do opposition teams need to worry about?
None of the other batsman are at all scary. There isn’t a single West Indian cricket fan who sees Marcus North or Mike Hussey walk out to bat and who sits up a little straighter in their chair and thinks, “better get this bloke early or we’re in trouble.”
Let me be clear on this point, though. All six of Australia’s top order, and Brad Haddin for that matter, are fine batsman with Test match level ability.
However, none of them have any explosiveness. When Matthew Hayden walked out to bat on day one, everybody in the ground knew it was possible that he would be 140 not out at the tea break, and just winding up. When Shane Watson walks out to bat, Australian cricket fans just hope we get off to a good start.
Sadly, the bowling is in even worse shape.
Certainly Mitchell Johnson does have the ability to run through a team and get a 7 for 40 or something like that. However, since leaving the Republic in February, he has seemed just as likely to get 1 for 70.
As for the rest, Peter Siddle is widely respected for being a ‘tryer’ but it has been a long time since we’ve had to rely on tryers to open the bowling. Everybody else, from Bollinger to Hilfenhaus to McKay and beyond, are just ‘potential.’
During the era of dominance, nobody had to ask why we were picking a bloke.
These days, the selectors and the mainstream media have to justify every selection: “well, this bloke gets a bit of swing” and “this bloke is really tall so he should be able to get some bounce.”
You know why we picked Jason Gillespie? Because he was good and he got wickets. Nothing more was said and nothing more was needed.
It is a sad state of affairs for those of us raised on win after win after win. Regrettably, I bring no solutions to the table. I can share only my discontent and sorrow.
The era of dominance has passed. The Australian team will, for the foreseeable future, be ordinary. Just like everybody else.
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