Is it too early to say Australia is world's best?

One of the things that has given me great pleasure watching cricket over the last 55 years has been the progression from rank amateurism to professionalism.

In the late 70’s I assisted as fielding coach for a Queensland U’19 team under Carl Rackemann.

I was astounded at how poor their throwing and fielding skills were; their understanding of how to execute basic plays like underarms, throws from the boundary, catching balls that go over your head, moving left and right to field ground balls, backing up, and relay plays, was poor.

At that time, baseball players I coached at national, state and local levels were so superior it wasn’t funny.

Batting techniques were primitive. Bowling skills were not taught with any great breadth of knowledge. Wicketkeepers had elementary drills.

Today, it is quite the reverse. In fact, today Cricket is over-coached.

There is not one aspect of what happens in the 70-metre radius of green that isn’t analysed and dissected and made perfect.

The pitch and the ball are the two major variables, and even they are as close to set conditions as one can get.

If you catalogued every motion made by players and umpires on an international cricket field it would astound you to know that almost every step they take is choreographed.

If you took a highlights reel from World Series Cricket of the 70’s and compared it with this match at Centurion this week, the difference would be like night and day.

Forget the equipment for a moment. This Australian Test team is so well drilled that it puts all, and I mean all, its predecessors in the shade.

No one beats the world number one ranked team by 281 runs – it might as well have been 500 runs.

No team in the history of world cricket would like to face Johnson, Siddle and Harris at their best, and even Nathan Lyon’s spin!

Why? Because they will outsmart you, and because one could kill you.

Two others could get you out with any ball, they are so consistent and so smart with hitting the spot.

And the other wouldn’t give you a minutes peace with his sunburned cream smile of disdain.

And I’m betting that before this tour is finished, Rogers, Warner, Doolan, Marsh, Clarke, Smith and Haddin will be the highest ranked first seven in cricket.

Not that some of these names will not disappear shortly. They will. But give me a name of a disappearing player, and I will give you three great replacements today!

It has astounded me how the critics of Australian cricket fail to see the greatness in our younger players.

Even Australia’s highest ranking selectors and coaches and administrators who I talked to and listened to were despairing twelve months ago.

I’ll say it for the 100th time in the past two years: there are 200 players in Australian cricket who could play in any international squad anywhere in the world, including Australia.

I could even pick two more teams right now who would give the Test 11 a great run for their money on any given day, in any form of the game.

In fact, Australia is so far superior to the other countries in terms of the concentration of talent, it is astounding.

Why? My theory is that those 200 kids are locked into the most competitive system from Kanga Cricket all the way up to Tests.

And, for the first time in Australia’s history, young players can see how they might earn $100,000 a year playing cricket.

That arbitrary figure, that promise of a big pay day, is the most amazing carrot.

20 year olds playing Bupa Shield games carry themselves like Greg Chappell or Sir Len Hutton or the Don, and there are only 50 people watching them.

They carry themselves, practise and conduct themselves off the park like they are true professionals.

Imagine how good they can be with 50,000 watching. They’ll play out of their skin.

Australia has a small population, but the five major cities have one million people or more. That’s enough for starters.

Give me a call when our population hits 25-30 million and I’ll be delirious with the talent because we’ll have national cricket leagues by then.

Now there was one thing all the critics of Australian cricket overlooked. They forgot how great the coaching techniques of state and Big Bash cricket are!

Darren Berry, Trevor Bayliss, Greg Shipperd, Justin Langer, Stu Law and Damian Wright are fabulous teachers.

Darren Lehmann is a terrific leader of men, a manager of men.

Not to say they are perfect, but they get wonderful assistance from coaches they select to work with their squads.

From Australian players of the ilk of Bailey, Clarke, Haddin, McDermott, Chappell, Marsh and Warne, there is a who’s who of Australian cricket behind every state and city based franchise. It is quite phenomenal.

The only thing that brought Australia back to the field was turning wickets in India. Nobody else will be able to hold a candle to Australia either at home or away, and that is what Steve Waugh and John Buchanan prided themselves on.

It’s something Darren Lehmann understands will mark the greatness of his team now and in the future – winning away from home!