Australia's World Cup Campaign: The Weakest Australian Team Is Still One of The Best In The Business
The current Australian team is the weakest Aussie lineup since the last 15 years and majority of the cricket pundits are not rating them as the favorites for the upcoming http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup 2011.
Australia holds the record of winning most number of world cups in the history of the game as they have won it four times, first in 1987 and then three times in a row from 1999 till 2007. The only other team that has won the world cup more than once is West
Indies, with two triumphs.
Since the retirement of some of the great players of the game like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shane-Keith-Warne-c89672, Glen McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden, Australian cricket is going through an expected decline as it is almost impossible to replace such big names overnight. However,
even this weakest Australian side of last 15 years is still one of the best teams of the world with marginal distance and no one can rule them out of the illustrious tournament.
Aussie batting lineup is still quite formidable with the likes of Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting and Cameron White, who are match-winners in their own individual rights. However the loss of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MEK-Hussey-c1942 is irreplaceable and it is quite a surprising decision
by the Australian selectors to rule him out of such an important tournament, especially when he could have been available at the later stages of the tournament. Hussey is considered as one of the best finishers in modern times as he has rescued http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746’s
ship on numerous occasions. He has an amazing ability to change gears which is quite helpful at the depth of the innings where quick runs are required; however his brother David would have to play the same kind of a role for Australia in the world cup.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TD-Paine-c2652 is also in the squad as
the second wicketkeeper and if Haddin does not perform consistently with the bat, Paine would definitely be brought in the playing 11 later in the tournament.
Australian bowling looked quite ineffective in the Ashes 2010-11 and that was the major reason that the hosts were not able to regain the Urn, however the comeback of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SW-Tait-c2616 and Bret Lee has strengthened the Kangaroos bowling lineup in the limited overs
format of the game. Both are fast and have the potential to run through any batting lineup on a given day. Shaun Tait was instrumental in Australia’s success in the world cup 2007 in the absence of Bret Lee as he took 23 wickets in 11 matches to end at number
two in the top wicket-takers list along with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Watson-c2558 would also play an important role in the pace bowling department if Australia is to do well in the tournament.
The biggest weakness of this Australian team is their spin bowling department. All the top teams are going to rely on the spinners in sub-continent’s conditions which are bound to support the slow bowlers but the only specialist spinner in Australia’s 15
men squad is Jason Krejza who made his ODI debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SPD-Smith-c2555 is also an option for Ricky Ponting as he is more than useful with the bowl.
Australia’s coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, Sri
Lanka and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 as the favorites for this world cup but no team in the world can still under-rate Australia and they still have a very good chance of defending the title.
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