The decline of Australian sport

For years, Australia has been pound-for-pound the greatest sporting nation, winning golds, grand slams and World Cups, taking particular pleasure in crushing England. But cracks have started to show. In the Observer Malcolm Knox, an Australian, explains where it's gone wrong and how failure is affecting the country's psyche.

... when our Olympians don't win, we all feel a bit more sluggish. When our cricketers are beaten by England or India, there is a little less strut on every Saturday-afternoon pitch across the nation. Great champions inspire a nation; failure at the top has a slight depressive effect on the masses

... the best young talents tend to skip over their years of grade cricket, being recruited to the academy or elite State squads from their mid-teens and pushed forward into Sheffield Shield cricket before they have played much grade cricket at all.