The Kangaroos being curried again- Part 1 - Opinion
Pakistan’s thumping win against Australia in Abu Dhabi, in the Second ODI of the Cool and Cool cup has stolen the limelight and drawn a wealth of praise that they well and truly deserve. That game however, also pinpointed at apparent loopholes in this present
Australian cricket team, which continue to become graver as the team grapples with a transition period.
This Australian side under a determined http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978 has witnessed an almost dramatic decline since the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and despite occasional brilliance on the field, their string of disappointing performances are a matter of concern. The trend
of losing big games almost backs up the claim that they are no longer world champions or deserve to be at the top of the ranks in ODI cricket. Yet at the same time, the state of ‘free-fall’ witnessed by the Australian team is as severe as what http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754
is facing in modern times. Their share of disappointments however, both on and off the field, have made them a side which looks less than ordinary when they fail to click. For an Australian cricketer, this fact is hard to digest.
The manner in which Pakistan stormed to victory by chasing down a competitive total of 249 at Abu Dhabi, has hinted at raggedness, exhaustion and dehydration, from a team known for its mental and physical toughness. Nowadays, it’s a case of them being outplayed
in almost all three departments of the game. The options for Michael Clarke are also limited to a few experienced pace men or spinners, who are expected to turn the cards in Australia’s favour after being outplayed for most of the game. This fact was a part
of Australia’s star studded team which had dominated cricket for almost a decade, where their ability to win games out of nowhere contributed to their massive fan following. These days, even occasional lapses have become a feature of a team that was a traditional
superpower. No more was this evident then in the all important 2nd ODI, against Pakistan, as their opponents galloped to a thumping 7-wicket win over the Wallabies. Considering the comprehensive manner in which the runs were chased down by a side
like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, which had gained notoriety for batting collapses, it is fair to say that the Kangaroos have quite a few issues that they need to deal with, to curb this largely implausible, decline.
The trend of losing big games in recent times is certainly not novel for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, teams have fancied their chances against a side that was known to dominate world cricket for over a decade.
Signs of complacency, lack of quality players firing at the right time and rustiness on and off the field began to surface in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, as they crashed out of the NatWest Series of 2012, without registering a single win in the five-match series. The ails of
losing key players such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 had further fragmented a team which has had a history of playing with impressive cohesion.
The 2nd ODI of the series brought back vague flashbacks of Australia’s inability to learn from their mistakes from previous encounters. The team carried on with a trend of being unable to tackle the vicious spin of Pakistan, by posting a modest
total by their standards. The fact that 6 wickets went down in their run chase against the same opposition in the first ODI at Sharjah meant that this Australian side lacks the intensity or http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Neil-Killeen-c79132 instinct that some of the sides that had preceded them had.
Not a single Australian batsman in both games played a Dilshan or Sehwag like innings, and it is hard to recall the last time when a player managed to score a match winning century.
Continued in Part 2...
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