Australia > Still number 1

[Mike Small]

My receipe for a making or picking a successful test crickter is simple, you need to look at 3 crucial things: Does he have the skill?Skills define acquired cricket playing ability such a batsmen having good techniques and bowlers having variations fielders having good reaction and agility Does he have talent?Talent implies innate qualities such as the ability to hit the ball hard or be wristy with your placement, bowling wise I associate talent with the ability to spin and/or turn the ball or ball fast etc And lastly but surely not leastly I ask my self if he has the right temprement? A right temprement incompases the pycological aspects such mental toughness, determination, fighting spirit, patience & consistency.

Whenever ever a new player comes on the scene I judge by these standards, and over a period of time I make up my own impression of if I think he will survive at the highest level or not. Frequently have I noticed that players who lag behind in one of these departments make up for it by excelling in the remaining two. You have the example of the McGrath and Steve Waugh who are naturally not the most talented of people but they are so far ahead of the others in terms of temprement and skill that the lack of natural talent is virtually negligible. Played with them was another guys called Mark Waugh who was so very gifted in terms of talent than any questions over his temprment were by and large overshadowed.

What I have noticed though in all great teams, be it the Bradman's Invincibles or the great West Indies Team/s of the 70s or this current Australian line up - what has been common in their success story is that they have been way, way ahead of their contemprories in any one of these diciples. For the greater part of the last decade Australia have been pretty much an indisputed second to none in international cricket, without much of debate. In recent times though a few teams (you decide which ones) have risen their bars them selves and claimed the gap betweeen the best and rest has lessened. But as Australia march on in the test series in India aka the final frontier in typically emphatic style (firing out in consequence a serious warning to England) any claims regarding their superiority as the number one test side are pretty much left high and dry. England might still giving them selves a chance (which is harmless of coarse) but there are fewer and fewer doubts in my mind that Australia will not be displaced as the top side in international cricket in near forseable future, regardless of the result of next summer's much anticipated series. Of coarse England might do well at the Ashes (for the record I predict a 1-1 draw if we play our very best), but would that one series result be enough to spell an end to what has no doubt been a complete an utter domination of all forms of cricket for a long sustained period? I'm not sure.

All the talk about Australia being in aging side, of them not having the same aura of invincibility as before, all the bla blas put aside - if they keep on playing like they have in these 3 tests it's very hard to be optimistic. Other teams might be catching up in terms of skill and talent (Australia have never been renouned for producing out and out gems in that respect , other countries have produced those types of players in far greater numbers) but they remain, so, so far ahead mentally of everyone else it all paints a very gloomy picture in my mind, especially as English fan. Call me pessimistic if you want, but come tomorrow and your team has to play against the Aussies, and at best you can only give your self a chance - of a win or draw that's not a question - but almost invaribilly Australia always start as favorites, and on most occassions that stays that way by the end of the encounter.

Just that I beleive mental toughness is one area where perhaps at other teams, at least England (not this side any way) will be playing catch up with those down under for some time to come. I don't know what the coaches teach the kids there or if it is something that runs in the genes but Australia always to me (sometimes even when they are not doing all that well) seem like the most mentally superior cricket side of all time. And for that sheer reason I can't anyone displacing them from the top in the next 3 years at least.

[Rachael]

What this boils down to is having players who are {b} capable of great things; {b} going to consistently step up when it counts; and {c} work together (along with the coaching staff) to help create a team environment where collectively, everyone else gets the encouragement to flourish such that the team as a whole consistently punches above its weight.

Strikes me that right now the Aussies are ahead on all three counts: they have a team of very capable players (think about it: there's not one in that line up who wouldn't walk into ANY other Test side), they have a team of guys who are all proving to be guys for the big occasion (who'd have thought they would have turned around some of their recent sub-continental escapades in SL and Ind: they did) and they have a fantastic ability to punch above their weight (to an even greater extent than the NZ side: they don't even worry when faced with an Indian side, away from home, that should (in terms of {a} and {b}, walk all over them.. they just focus on being hard to beat and let the pressure do the rest).

What of the competition?

India clearly lead the way.. and player for player are surely close to a match (at least on tracks, outside the greener ones of Aus, NZ, SA and Eng, where Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble can bowl in tandem.. but increasingly elsewhere as well, with the growing strength in depth on the seam bowling front). On paper you'd back India over Aus if each were to face a rest of the world team in sub-continental conditions. In practice? Well, just look at what's happening in the Test series.

I'm beginning to think Sri Lanka might get there before India. The batting is not so widely hailed.. perhaps lacking a big star or two... but it is perhaps the next best in world cricket (Jayawardene and Sangakkara are proving very, very good, Jayasuria can be spectacularly destructive, Attapattu has the grittiness, Tillekeratne's a proven performer and Kaluwitharana is looking to be as good a wicket-keeper batsman as any). Add in Murali (with Kumble, the only real match for Warne in world cricket)... Vaas (not a match for Gillespie, but good) and the promise of Zoysa, Herath, Malinga and Chandana... and with 2-3 years' hard work there's hope.

Anyone else? I don't see it. Pakinstan need 4-5 years of Woolmer to sort out a decade or more of going backwards... and to match the Aussies you'd need to combine the talents of NZ, Eng, WI and SA.. and you'd STILL be short of a keeper and short in the spin department (let's add in another country and admit Taibu, he's better than the alternatives).

Field Richardson, Smith / Gibbs, Kallis, Lara, Thorpe, Chanderpaul, Pollock, Taibu, Vettori, Giles and Ntini / Harmison and then go play a triangular series, in India, against India and Aus. I reckon that side might compete... but I'd still expect them to come off 3rd best!

[The Great DonTalon]

you are Rachel one of the 10 best posters i've met on both this and the bbc MB.