It’s been a year to forget for Australian cricket.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of one of the darkest days in the nation’s sporting history, and while Steve Smith and David Warner are now eligible to rejoin the national set-up and try to recover their damaged reputations, the stigma associated with Australian cricket will live on for years and decades to come.
The Aussies have suffered on and off the park during the last 12 months.
The resignation of coach Darren Lehmann was the first of many involving Cricket Australia personnel.
A cultural review of the administrative body was damning, labelling the organisation “arrogant and controlling”.
The media were simply not talking about the cricket anymore – this was the only story that mattered.
Journalists may be forgiven for focusing on matters outside the field of play. When a team loses one of the world’s most prolific run-scorers and one of the most dynamic openers in world cricket, there weren’t going to be many positive headlines.
The results speak for themselves. Australia lost a home Test series to India for the first time ever and went on a horrible run in the ODI arena, winning just two of 11 games in three consecutive series defeats after the ball-tampering saga.
Incredibly, Australia’s loss in the second ODI against India in Nagpur was their 21st out of their previous 25 completed matches in the 50-over format.
(Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Australia’s batting order had been flimsy and at times experimental throughout that period, and no-one could be sure of the line-up that would appear in the next match.
Things were looking grim, and with less than three months until the start of the World Cup, it looked like Australia’s campaign was already on life support.
Those Aussie fans who hadn’t yet given up would have been frantically checking their calendars to find out when Smith and Warner were due to return.
Perhaps the players finally sensed that the pair’s return was imminent, because everything seemed to change after the match in Nagpur.
Ahead of the third match in the series against India, and facing the prospect of a fourth-straight ODI series defeat, under-pressure openers Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja would have been looking over their shoulders after some less-than-impressive performances.
Thankfully, they decided to give Australian selectors a different type of headache by compiling a match-winning partnership of 193.
This partnership didn’t just ease the pressure on the openers. It was the moment the shackles of Australian cricket were finally released, and it’s been the Aussies of old we have been watching ever since.
Set 359 for victory in Chandighar, few would have given Australia a chance, especially when Finch departed for a duck. Up stepped Khawaja again, and this time he was joined by Peter Handscomb and an amazing Ashton Turner in achieving Australia’s highest ever successful ODI run chase.
Australia went on to win the series against India 3-2 after being 2-0 down, and have since taken a 3-0 lead in their series against Pakistan in the UAE. After their awful run, Australia have won six on the trot.
The timing could not be better.
(AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
With Smith and Warner eligible to return to the side ahead of the World Cup, Australia have a host of players who are in form and peaking just at the right time.
Aaron Finch is leading by example, having scored a mind-boggling 359 runs in the first three matches against Pakistan.
Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa are reaping the rewards of having extended stints in the first eleven, while Pat Cummins is right up there with the best bowlers in the world.
Although there have been some injuries in the bowling ranks, there is a genuine feeling that this Aussie side can do what many thought would be impossible just weeks ago – defend their World Cup crown.
Of course, the conditions in England aren’t going to be anything like those the Australians have encountered in India and Pakistan in recent weeks, and there’s still the matter of having to come up against the hosts, who have been far and away the best side in the format over the last two years.
The Poms won’t have forgotten the 5-0 drubbing of the old enemy less than 12 months ago.
But that was an Australian side fresh from the ball-tampering bollocking and with a brand new coach at the helm.
Justin Langer has now had almost a full year in charge of the national team, and the media’s sandpaper bandwagon has almost rolled out of sight.
Australia’s current performances will scare England, who will be under huge pressure to win their home tournament as favourites.
Sure, the Aussies are going to cop sledging wherever they go during the event, but the five-time winners need only hold up one hand showing all five fingers, and the other hand held with a closed fist to silence the home fans.
They’ve also had to put up with constant reminders of the ball-tampering fiasco, so by now they should be well and truly used to the chatter.
It might be an optimistic view, but Australia have a huge pedigree in this tournament and will not be a team that the other nations will enjoy coming up against.
They are a great chance of winning the 2019 World Cup.
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