Nothing mellow about the men in yellow – Part 2 - Opinion
Continued from Part 1...
There was a time when the Australians used to have a bottomless quiver of fast bowlers. Sadly, their pace attack in T20 cricket is considered to be malleable, lacking venom, and vulnerable to being exploited at ease by an array of detonators throughout the
world. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mitchell-c76390 Johnson’s inconsistent bowling for example, has been targeted by many opposition batsmen who nowadays fancy their chances more than Johnson does over him. Patrick Cummins is another promising prospect who has sadly failed to reconcile his attributes
of being hostile and quick, with pitching the ball in the corridor of uncertainty at regular intervals. The fact that his Joburg performance in Test cricket is considered to be a once in a blue moon sort of affair, pretty much sums up what Australia really
have to offer in the shortest version of the game. Australian cricket has been at its best historically whenever they had managed to crush their opposition into submission, and played with distinct class and consistency. Their recent T20 performances certainly
do not live up to that characteristic at all.
The problems for Australia in this world cup however, are not limited to the quality of their players alone. Their oppositions, which range from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, have been playing T20 cricket with a distinct style and valor. The T20 format also
allows some of the weakest teams to perform above their weight, as it has so often happened in previous editions of the world T20. Traditional power houses such as the West Indies for example, tend to become as dangerous as Sri Lanka in the fifty over format,
where the array of top quality detonators that they have at their disposal, and the ruthless pace battery, make them one of the pre-tournament favourites. For the Aussies, this fact is a damning reality, as they would face off with the West Indies on the 22nd
of September.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 is a place where Australian teams of the past have had a lot of success. Those were rosier times however, when a star studded team would head off to the island and dictated terms to any opposition that they would encounter. Even in the T20 format,
Australia has managed to put in some impressive performances in the subcontinent in recent times. Sadly for them however, this edition of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, who are all but a few who could seriously
challenge their status of being invincible. The island’s pitches have historically been conducive to spin bowling, and barring http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746’s spin department is barren, and lacks a player who is equivalent to the
class of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 for that matter. Despite the change in Sri Lankan wickets and new stadiums being erected, there is no denying the fact that spin will play an extremely important role for any team
that aspires to lift the trophy.
It is thus fair to say that the fact that the Australians are lingering in the latter stages of the ICC rankings, clearly indicates that not a lot is going right for them. For those who dare to believe however, Australia could well and truly resort to their
resounding Kangaroo punches and roar their way back into becoming champions in Sri Lanka.
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