Beyond Our Annus Horribilis
What a difference a year makes.
This time 12-months ago, Australian cricket stood at a precipice and seemed to be at genuine risk of dropping into an abyss.
England had smashed the home side 3-1 in that most revered of international series, The Ashes, taking the spoils on Australian soil for the first time in 24-years.
Australia’s batting superstars suddenly looked like washed-up has-beens while the bowlers in baggy green caps could barely buy a wicket.
The country’s sporting pride and joy was misfiring badly and it was starting to become embarrassing for everyone from the chief executive to the casual observer.
This embarrassment, or at the very least, frustration, spread through the upper echelons of Australian cricket and became such a concern that it triggered the Argus Review and in August 2011 recommendations were made to alter the national team’s senior management, selection and coaching structures in a bid to stop the rot.
Now, just a fortnight into the New Year, it seems the wheel has turned full circle.
Suddenly, optimism is the mood of the moment. Cricket fans are tuning in as the national side climbs back up the international rankings.
Currently fourth, Australia will be within spitting distance of third behind England and South Africa with a fourth consecutive Test victory over a dispirited India in Adelaide next week.
Even then it’s a far cry from the “World’s Best” status paraded by Australian teams for much of the past two decades.
But it’s getting there.
The recovery has been spearheaded by new captain Michael Clarke’s excellent form both on and off the field.
As well as his buccaneering triple century in the recent Sydney Test, Clarke made tons against New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in 2011 to be the team’s most consistent batsman throughout a tumultuous 12 months.
He has also stepped into his job as skipper with a relish that is starting to be matched by the wider cricket public that, it must be said, collectively held its breath when the 30-year-old from Sydney’s west was named to replace the deposed Ricky Ponting as captain last March.
While Clarke has proved to be an able leader, his increasingly impressive record at the helm has coincided with the unearthing of a new generation of Australian cricketers.
Clarke has won six of the 11 Tests he has captained and as far as foundations go, it has been as solid a start as could be hoped for.
He also presided over the fabled 47-run capitulation in Cape Town and if not for a sparkling first innings century in the same match this black mark may have been counted against him more personally.
As Cricket Australia looks to rebuild from the dark days of early 2011, no fewer than eight debutants have taken a bow under Clarke’s tutelage and no doubt there will be more to come.
As well as the introduction of electric opening batsman David Warner and his more staid partner, Ed Cowan, impressive West Australian Shaun Marsh is being given the chance to find his feet in a new-look top order.
Usman Khawaja also debuted under Clarke’s captaincy, albeit in the fifth Ashes test in Sydney in place of then injured skipper Ricky Ponting, and is likely to regain his spot when time eventually catches up with Ponting or Mike Hussey.
But in terms of revelations, it has been the performances of a new generation of bowlers that has really turned heads.
Nathan Lyon and Trent Copeland burst onto the scene with wicket-taking deeds in a series win away against Sri Lanka during the Australian winter, both showing admirable consistency and guile to strike in trying conditions.
Even though Copeland hasn’t kicked on to home Test selection yet, Lyon looks to have beaten out Michael Beer, Xavier Doherty and Steven Smith as the country’s long-term spin option and will be keen to impress on his home deck in Adelaide during the fourth Test.
And while injury has curtailed their progress after astounding debut performances, pace tyros Patrick Cummins and James Pattinson look like players that could spearhead Australia’s bowling attack for the next decade.
Both are capable of genuinely quick bowling – and out thinking batsmen – and Pattinson’s 25-wicket haul from his first four Tests has many good judges fairly frothing at the mouth as to his boundless potential.
Mitchell Starc also put his hand up at the WACA – most importantly, his left hand – and promises variety and a vicious bouncer for years to come.
Of course, it helps that experienced campaigners Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus have both found career best form in the India series – and that Ponting and Hussey cashed in alongside Clarke in Sydney – but, above all, things just feel right again.
To restate embattled lawyer Dennis Denuto’s famous line from the often-quoted 1997 movie, ‘The Castle’, “it’s just the vibe of the thing”.
It’s a vibe the Indian camp must be desperately seeking, too.
Unable to seriously threaten Australia during the opening three Tests of the series, the tourists now face the prospect of playing in Adelaide without their talisman captain MS Dhoni, suspended due to his side’s slow over rate in Perth, and with the enigmatic VVS Laxman just one of a number of top-line players in the doldrums.
Does that scenario sound familiar to anyone?
There are obvious comparisons to be drawn between the situation India now faces to that confronted by the Aussies when they headed to Sydney on a hiding to nothing without their regular captain and in freefall against a rampant England.
What remains to be seen is how Indian cricket goes about resurrecting itself from the current predicament.
Given their distrust of and refusal to embrace the Decision Review System during the current series, cynics might suggest whatever happens in India won’t be as thorough as the Argus Review was in Australia.
They may not turn things around in 12 months, either. Then again, a year’s a long time in cricket.
First published in part at www.cricket.com.au
Photo by Hamish Blair/GettyImages AsiaPac
