Poor Australia..all but one loss

One can imagine the fate of a team that wins all its games in the league stages of the tournament and loses the one important game that would have given it a champions tag if won. That was what happened to Australia yesterday when they lost their first match in the tournament as well as their last one. But, who is there to give more chance compared to the number of people who pity them? Australia are the team which deserved to win the trophy despite all odds when there was no team that even came close to beating Australia.

I remember South Africa winning all its five games in the 1996 world cup and losing to the West Indies in the quarter-finals by 19 runs. The same thing happened to South Africa in the last two editions of the world T20 in 2007 where they lost their first match to India and in 2009 against Pakistan in the semis to end their campaign. Like Australia, England too had not lost even a single match in this tournament and in 2007, Pakistan had not lost a single match until the finals against India. And last but not the least, Sri Lanka had not lost a game in 2009 until the finals.

But, those were fluke wins which came automatically but this time, Australia was a better team compared to England. Though England has beaten Pakistan in this world cup, they would not have done the same had they been in place of Australia in the second semi-finals. Australia not only defeated their opposition but literally thrashed them with Sri Lanka being bowled out for 87, West Indies for 105 and India for 135. England, though have won all their encounters in the super-eights, could not bowl out their opposition in all three games. They only managed to bowl out South Africa at Bridgetown for 129.

This is nothing but injustice done to Australia for which no one can he held responsible. Not even the Aussies can be held responsible for the same. After their loss to West Indies, England had to win against Ireland where chances of England winning were freak after they were bowled out for just 120 on the board. Had the game progressed, there was every chance for Ireland to upset their opposition. Had that been the case, England would not even make it to the super-eights let alone winning the trophy. But, I feel happy for England for winning their maiden world cup tournament.

Aussie tank misfires

They might have held their nerves tightly in that run chase of 197 against Pakistan when they were reeling at 105-5 at 3 overs prior to the winning shot. But, that match ended in those three hours itself when Australia made it to the finals of the world T20 tournament and Pakistan giving a grand exit. The past can never be the future in some cases like it happened yesterday when Australia surprisingly lost the finals against arch-rivals England by 6 wickets at Bridgeton. That was what a total of just 146 on the board can promise anyone let alone Australia.

The match was the finals barrier for the Aussies to cross which would have not only made them T20 champions but also would have stopped tongues from wagging towards them. Australia no matter what hey have they got to say in the other two formats of the game definitely lacked momentum in T20 game which one fine day forced Ricky Ponting to step down not only as a captain but also as a player. Yesterday was their rare chance to prove a point especially after their sweeping wins in the super eights where they had all three teams bowled out.

That was followed by a record run chase of 197 with the winning shot coming in the form of a six. In yesterday's game, the Aussies lost the plot in the beginning itself with the first three wickets falling when the scoreboard read 8 runs. That was followed by a series of wickets falling at regular intervals eventually ending their innings at a score of 146 on the board. With that initial blow, the batsmen coming in were confused when they had to think whether to go in for the kill or to stay at the crease and keep the scorecard ticking.

Still, all eyes would have been on the Aussies hoping that the pitch was a bowler's paradise and defending a total of 146 would not be tough. But, English batsmen had other plans when if not for Michael Lumb, no other batsmen had any sorts of trouble against seamers like Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait. England cruised to victory with as many as three overs to spare needless to be said en route to their first major title. England, until yesterday was the only cricketing nation which had no world titles against their name. Of course, one has to compromise with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and other non-test playing nations.

Who is the best among the best?

Both England and Australia had once met in the finals of the Reliance world cup in 1987 held in the sub-continent. Now, after a span of 23 years both teams are once again scheduled to play each other in the finals of the T20 world cup here in hours to come. Both teams have reached the finals after a lot of ups and downs not only in this tournament but elsewhere as well. Australia,though have made their opposition tremble with fear for so long are not the champions they were once upon a time. For that, you might have to refer past T20 world cups.

And, coming to England they have never been the favorites with hardly any team having their bet on them. Looking at that, one should not consider that England have reached the finals by chance and not by talent. They are yet to legally lose a match in this world cup like Australia. Though they have a loss against West Indies, that was due to rain and had the match gone ahead as per plan, there was more chance that England would win that game. England, needless to be said beat strong teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand.

No team can win all their games by fluke. And, nothing special needs to be said regarding Australia who, like England (and one step ahead of them) have won all their games since the tournament began. They just thrashed every opposition that came their way if not for their semi-final game against Pakistan where they had a tough run for their money. It is winning such games that makes a team have a fan following and betters having their bet against them. In case Australia lose the finals by any chance, that would be nothing but total injustice to them.

Australia have knocked off England in the 1987 world cup and the ICC champions trophy 2009 while England have done that only once to Australia when they beat them in the semi-finals of the ICC champions trophy 2004. If Australia win this contest, they will become the first team to win all three major titles namely world cup, ICC champions trophy and T20 world cup. Likewise, in case England win, that will be their first major title after three losses in the finals of world cups and one loss in the ICC champions trophy 2004. Whatever, right now please Control your mind

Which glory days is Richardson speaking about?

Well the latest news that we hear is that Ottis Gibson has taken over as the coach of the present West Indies team after his successful campaign with the England team that made Australia lose the Ashes in 2009. It is difficult for anyone to make the opposition lose a series, which should not be confused with a team winning a series. It was Australia who lost the Ashes in 2009 rather than England winning the same. Anyways, coming to the fact the Gibson has taken over as the new West Indian coach, one comes across with phrases "glory days in WI cricket".

Which is the glory days that Gibson or Richie Richardson is talking about? Is it the era of the West Indies cricket in the mid 70s that went on to the whole of 80s and early 90s to a little extent as well? Or is it the one after fellow players like Ambrose, Walsh & Bishop announced their retirement from international cricket? Or is it the era after Brian Lara bid adieu to all forms of cricket that Gibson refers to as glory days? Anyways, it is clear that Gibson is referring to the era when the West Indies team won the world cup in 1975 and 1979 after which they couldn't even make it to the semis if not for WC 1996 and PC 1983.

Anyways, with Gibson taking over as the coach of the current West Indies team, Gibson not only has a great risk of returning the favor that the West Indies team has been gifted by other teams that include even Bangladesh and Zimbabwe but also the task of seeing that he himself doesn't prove of his inefficiency as a coach. It would be fantastic to see the West Indies gaining the lost glory atleast a little bit if not completely. Once in while, even the West Indies come up with surprises like they won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 beating England by 2 wickets.

West Indies is the only team so far to have beaten England in the finals of a mega event twice in England after they beat the same in the finals of the Prudential cup 1979. If Gibson's role as a coach is given a deeper look at, if not for the Ashes win in September 2009, he cannot boast of anything bigger. England came close to losing to Australia in the Ashes that were drawn. Then, in the recently concluded test series against South Africa, England came close to losing on 2 occasions. Since 2007, England's major victories apart from the Ashes was against New Zealand only. This well supports Gibson's role as a coach for a team that need not be taught how to lose.

Did RSA wait for Procter's words

Well hardly anyone would have anticipated that South Africa would so badly lose the second test at Durban where the margin of victory was more than an innings. But, that is the case with the South African players who at times make fools out of themselves. Sometimes it is the bad luck that keeps them away from the title and during other times, it is their foolish approach to the game. And, neither of these were the case when they lost the Durban test to England. Now, after the loss to England, the South African convener of selectors-Procter comes out asking the players to show fight.

Were the South African players waiting for Procter to come out and motivate the players by using such words? The world has seen the result the South Africans have got whenever they showed in some or more fight be it against any opposition. Regarding this, nothing more needs to be said whatsoever. The more recent one was in the first test between the two countries - South Africa and England where South Africa could get 9 of the English batsman out only to see the game end in a draw and the man of the match being awarded to the England batsman Graeme Swann.

Whatever, that should not have been the way the South African players were expected to fare especially against England who are not at all rated as favorites by any strong test playing nation. And with South Africa being the home country, such a defeat is not at all acceptable. South Africa are also the team that is placed in the second position in the latest ICC test rankings behind only India at present. They are one of the two nations in the cricketing world to have been ahead of Australia, which is a pride in itself. They are the only team to have defeated Australia in Australia in the decade.

However, they lost to the same Australia in the return series that shortened the enjoyment that South Africa had to just 2 months. Likewise, England will be enjoying their Ashes victory for atleast 2 years and India for four years until the next Border-Gavaskar trophy kicks in. South African team will always be remembered as the one which was waiting for a signal from the dressing room in the match against Sri Lanka in the league stages of the world cup 2003 which was the one which would decide whether South Africa would advance to the super sixes or not. Finally, may be the decision from the dressing room was to drop the idea of continuing their WC campaign. So was the situation in this series against England.

Team India's No1 Saga

This news would make every Indian proud. The news was that India have made it to the number one spot in the latest ICC test rankings, which is not a breaking or flash news and is aware of every cricket fan. This is the second such news that team India have made in the past four months or so. If our memories are still fresh, India had made it to the number one spot in the latest ICC's one day rankings after the tri nation-three match tournament involving SriLanka, New Zealand and of course India, after beating New Zealand in the first one day international of the series.

This was followed by a loss to Sri Lanka in the very next league stage match which saw India return back to the number three spot behind Australia (who had a good run against and in England) and South Africa. Even the win in the finals of the tri nation tournament against SriLanka couldn't revert the position of team India in the latest ICC ODI rankings then. Before that, a year ago or so, India were the number one T20 team, only to lost all the matches that they played in the second T20 world cup held in England.

From the time team India have lost their number one status be it either in ODI or T20, the Indians have never been able to look back to reclaim their lost glory in either of the formats. The time when team India had been the number 1 team in ODI as well as T20 cricket, there were other teams competing to climb up in the rankings. There was the ICC Champions Trophy that involved all the major teams from the world, which was preceded by the latter part of the Natwest trophy which contributed to the margin in points between the teams' ODI points.

However, when India was the number one team in T20 cricket, that was still the initial stages of the T20 format of cricket and all that added to team India's ranking was their win in the inaugural T20 world cup held at South Africa, in which India won all games but one against New Zealand by 5 runs. This was also followed by a win in the only T20 game against Australia at Mumbai that followed the 7 match ODI series that India lost 4-2. May be, to a greater extent, this contributed a lot to the success of team India in T20 cricket. There was hardly any chance for any other teams to prove their myth in T20 cricket which saw India enjoying.

Australia As Good As India

If at all there can be any team in the world who can win five out of five tests, it has to be either Australia or England for, it has been only these two teams who play a five match test series. While the remaining teams play at the most 4 tests like India played the West Indies in 2006 and the Border Gavaskar trophy played between India and Australia. However, there have been many 7 match one day international series involving all major teams barring Bangladesh and Zimbabwe (as far as my knowledge goes). And, I guess only Australia have been able to achieve 5 out of 5 test victories.

However, coming to the 7 match ODI series involving Australia and England in the recently concluded one day series in the Nat West Trophy 2009, Australia needless to be said had all chances of whitewashing England yet another time by winning all the 7 ODIs to be the first team in the world to do so, which was not the case whatsoever. I remember India winning 6 out of seven one day matches against Sri Lanka in 2005 when Sri Lanka had visited India for a 7 match one day series. Then, India had won 5 out of 5 matches in yet another 7 match ODI series against England in November last year.

However, things were not in favour of India and more so against a team that had all chances of making it 7-0. It is all owing to the dreadful terror attacks in Mumbai on 26/11 which restricted the 7 match ODI series to just 5. So, the challenge of winning a 7 match series 7-0 still needs to be achieved. Let alone winning the match by Australia, the Aussies never behaved as though they have had the earlier 6 matches in their pockets. A total of mere 176, which England overtook with as many as 60 balls or 10 overs to spare really asks for more evidence of Australia's dominance of the Nat West series.

One should never forget that until their defeat at the hands of England in the 7th one dayer, they had been enjoying the number 1 position in one day cricket along with South Africa. And after their debacle in this match, Australia slump to the third position behind India and obviously South Africa. This was also the case with India in the recently concluded tri nation tournament involving Sri Lanka and New Zealand. India became the number 1 team in one day cricket after their win against New Zealand, only to lose the plot after their loss at the hands of Sri Lanka. However, even their win against the same in the finals could not get India back to number 1. So was the case with Australia as well.

Not Enough Courage From Aussie Bowlers

With most ups and downs in the five days that was seen in the first Ashes test between England and Australia, the match was finally declared a draw. Both England and Australia equally dominated the play during their batting. And in addition to that, the performance of both the teams was pretty decent like a tug of war. But, all this could only deceive the fans who would have bet on either team and ended up getting nothing. It was nice to watch 10 out of the 11 English batsmen post double digit figures if not for the number 11 batsman Monty Panesar who got out at the score of 4.

Finally, at the end of the first innings, England ended by losing all their 10 wickets at 425. This was and should have been a respectable total which actually was not the case whatsoever. One would have thought the Australian batsmen to flutter owing to them being on tour and not the host and the other fact that they are not the same world dominating team that they were a couple of years back. But to one's surprise, even the Australian batsmen fought fire with fire. The Australian batsmen put up a score of 674 reminding the English players the way they whitewashed England on their earlier Ashes tour.

After this feat by the Australian batsmen, the fans would have changed their minds which until then had favoured England now turned towards Australia. The Australian score would have well crossed 674 had they not gone in for a declare. Anyway that is a different issue altogether. This should have been a match winning one with some decent bowlers in the Aussie ranks like Mitchell Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Nathan Hauritz. And the Australian bowlers did just that. They found England reeling at 70-5 which became 126-7. It was the 7^th wicket partnership that proved too tough for the Australian bowlers that stood for as long as 17 overs somewhere approximately 2 hrs or a session.

This was more than enough to fetch a draw and escape from the jaws of defeat for England. Weather to win or lose or take home a draw was in the hands of the Australian bowlers. For, even had England not succumbed in their second innings, they would have batted on may be until the fourth day leaving little or no time for the Australian batsmen to chase down the total imposed by them, thus ending the match in a draw. If at all there could have been a result, it should have been an Australian triumph or a draw. The only was a result would have been possible was Australia bowling the English batsmen out for a score less that 239 which didn't happen. It shows a rather dismal performance from Australians not only in their bowling but also as a team.

It was not a great task by the Aussie batsmen to have posted 674 on a pitch that favoured batsmen. But, courage meant in bowling England in a track that was deteriorating and difficult to bat. Had Australia batted first, things would have surely been difficult for Australia. All that Australia could boast was the man of the match given to Ponting.