Culture of Champions

Perth-Australia's record-breaking 12th consecutive Test victory in the second Test against the West Indies has been duly hailed as the phenomenal achievement it is.

"The world's greatest", was how the national newspaper, The Australian, with only a trace of hyperbole, trumpeted the feat in Monday's front page lead under a picture of the decisive final wicket spread across all seven columns.

It surpassed the statistical standard set by Clive Lloyd's powerful West Indies in 1984, and Australia's strength, depth, self-confidence and facilities are such that they could well match another phenomenal West Indies record and go unbeaten in a Test series for the next 15 years.

Prove mettle

They still have to overcome their long-standing aversion to the Indian subcontinent where they were last beaten, just over a year ago, by Sri Lanka and where they have not won a series against India in 30 years. Their mettle will be proven in three Tests there in February and March.

One or two other teams, notably South Africa, might dispute Australian claims of total world domination at present or in the future. But the whole structure of their cricket, of which Steve Waugh's team is the end product, is a prototype for everyone else to follow.

Waugh himself has spoken of learning from the repeated defeats inflicted on Australia by the West Indies during the 1980s just as Lloyd himself had followed the example of Australia's all-pace attack following the 1975-76 series.

When Waugh came into the team, Australia was on the receiving end, not only from the West Indies but from almost everyone else. It was a mediocrity that infuriated a nation with a strong sporting tradition and a lust for success.

It prompted urgent, but well planned, action by the authorities at national, state and club level.

An academy to sharpen the basic skills and fitness of the most talented youngsters was established in 1988, a novel concept that has been followed almost everywhere else.

Players of character were identified, the slackers and the posers were discarded. The best were put on contracts that ensured them full time employment in the game.

Facilities, already the best in the world, were improved. A slick marketing campaign was aimed at attracting children to the game.

As the West Indies have discovered, Australian teams, state and Test, are now as fit and as athletic as they have ever been. A misfield is a rarity. The four catches spilled on the first day here was unheard of.

There is such fierce competition that no one dares drop standards.

It is the attitude that makes Australia world champions in so many other sports - both codes of rugby, tennis, hockey-and that triggered their success in staging and competing in the Sydney Olympics. Any Australian who now represents his country on a sporting field expects to win.

The contrast with the West Indian experience could not be greater. It is not mere coincidence that Australia's record victory was the West Indies' 15th defeat in their last 17 overseas Tests.

Twelve years after Australia's prototype, there is still no academy in the Caribbean. Deliberate policy to remove prima donnas has only just been introduced and still some remain.

Facilities are shockingly inadequate for the 21st century with only one indoor practice area in the whole of the region and adjoining nets at only one Test ground. In both cases they are at the Queen's Park Oval, run by a private club.

The standard of pitches has generally deteriorated and only recently has the WICB made a concerted effort to get them back in shape.

Present West Indian cricketers lack the condition and mobility of Australians and South Africans, who now set the benchmarks. Why the norm set by the brilliant fielding team of the 1980s should have fallen so markedly is readily explained. It is simply a lack of diligent practice.

Two disciplines

There is no Australian-as there used to be no West Indian-not proficient in at least two disciplines. The West Indies now introduce fast bowlers into Test cricket who can't bat and can't field.

And while Australia can summon a host of batsmen to take Steve Waugh's place who would be certainties in most Test teams-Damien Martyn, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Simon Katich-the West Indies are sending as a replacement for Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, aged 19 and with one first-class match to his name.

There is a lot of work to be done by the WICB, the member associations, the clubs, the schools and, not before time, the governments and private enterprise, if the present depressing situation is not to become permanent.

As the Trinidadian attorney and concerned West Indian Claude Denbow has observed, the revival cannot start with the present team, those he calls "the lost generation".

A psychiatrist may offer a short-term boost but it is the teenagers on whom we must now depend and who need to be properly prepared, in every way, for the challenges ahead.

It's going to be a long wait.