Australia still far from unbeatable
Gideon Haigh is convinced that, despite Australia’s convicing series scorelines against West Indies and Pakistan this summer, the manner in which the wins were achieved and the Ashes turned over suggest that they are far from their world-beating best
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
Gideon Haigh is convinced that, despite Australia’s convicing series scorelines against West Indies and Pakistan this summer, the manner in which the wins were achieved and the Ashes turned over suggest that they are far from their world-beating best. Writing in the Times Online, he points out that Australia benefited largely from the poor cricket played by their opponents.
West Indies, ambushed in Brisbane, belied their eighth place in the Reliance Mobile Test rankings by taking Tests right up to their hosts in Adelaide and Perth. Australia then disposed of a poorly led Pakistan team rivalling Shane MacGowan in their propensity for self-destruction, although only after trailing by 206 runs on first innings in Sydney.
Haigh also draws attention to the emergence of the Big Bash in Australia and what it could mean for the traditional format in the country.
For Big Bash read Big Cash: a place in the final translates to a place in the supranational Champions League this year and a share in its stupendous revenues. Not surprisingly, state associations hitherto dependent on distributions from Cricket Australia are agitating to enlarge the Bash at the expense of the Sheffield Shield.
Australia’s venerable first-class competition is also being squeezed from the other end, its last round this season coinciding with the Indian Premier League (IPL), an overlap that Lalit Modi, the league’s ubiquitous commissioner, warned rather forbiddingly “could mean penalties on such players, including termination of contracts, jeopardising future participation”.
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo