(Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
Bundled out of the Twenty/20 World Cup, their best all rounder gone, and a real sense that the hegemony that was Australian Cricket is truly behind us.
But, worryingly for the English, there is still a sense of lurking power underneath this rebuilding icon.
Their last test match series in South Africa proved that. Despite having suffered the indignity of a 2-1 loss at home in the tests and a 4-1 thumping in the one day internationals, against all odds the under siege Baggy Green came to the temporary holders of the ICC number one ranking and somehow defeated the Proteas to restore the balance.
Temporarily.
But one felt that all it did was paint a mirage over the glaring cracks not only of the team itself, but also something deep in the heart of Australian cricket.
The Twenty/20 debacle in theory would not worry the purists of the game. After all, but a few decades ago the 50 over game was just an intruder on the sanctity of test cricket. Surely this twenty over aside playground means nothing to the world, or to Australia.
This is dead wrong, as the new shortened version has proven, it is here to stay. It has, in the form of the IPL, irrevocably changed the landscape of the game—for better or for worse, and is now legitimately one form of three cricket styles.
And in the World Cup, its grandest stage, the Australians could not even win a game.
Sri Lanka is one thing, but the West Indies is in a horrific state at the moment, and the Australians, filled with enough talent to win the title, never looked close to a top team.
It is said that the key turning point was the sending home of Andrew Symonds.
But, irrespective of the side of the fence you see Symonds; one could argue that Australian cricket should have never have put themself in the position with the truant in the first place, and should have taken a far harder stance with the Queenslander a lot earlier.
With the Ashes on the immediate horizon, surely the pinnacle of cricket for an Australian team, there is no real aspect of them being ready for a defence of the little urn.
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