The Australian cricket team, like a pinball being thrown about the machine by a superior player, seems to be lurching from pillar to post at the moment without a whiff of clarity or steadiness in the offing when it comes to selection or performance.
The stench of 1985 when our national team was a frustrating, talentless, unoccupied pelt masquerading as an international cricket team or worse still, an imitation of the worthless England teams thrown at us like a forlorn hope in the nineties, full of bits and pieces players, mercenaries from other nations or fellows who’s reputation and “team man”standing found them a spot in the side despite their apparent worthlessness are all comparisons being unearthed from the blurry recesses of history when it comes to regarding this current crop wearing the “Baggy Green”cap.
One can only despair at the thought of Michael Clarke, the only world class player in the lineup and the side’s gallant captain falling ill or injured and the rabble left being lead by the likes of the flaky Shane Watson. The Redcoats at Isandlwana would have stood more of a chance!
There is a lot wrong with the game in Australia at the moment and one can only suggest it stems from an arrogance and ignorance developed during the last “Golden Age”of Australian cricket when the national team stood alone at the top of Everest, chopping all contenders off at the knees whenever it looked as though they may be challenged as the leading light of the sport and the names of Waugh, Warne, McGrath were uttered in reverence in every household where cricket or sport itself was held in the highest favour.
Those days are long gone and the recent review into the game seems to have only created more problems as the average results in India at the moment are suggesting.
Of course there are major challenges facing cricket in it’s own land, challenges which are serious and must be addressed if the game is not to continue being overshadowed and depleted by Aussie Rules or, God forbid, the A-League soccer!
As a cricket “tragic”, I only hope that the business acumen is in place in cricket’s administration which will eventually overcome this torpor and the production line of great Australian cricketers which has continued in a long and steady state for nearly 150 years with only the odd air air bubble disrupting the flow, will once more be streaming ready made players out of the Sheffield Shield competition and on to the wickets of the world where they will again take centre stage and the Baggy Green cap will once more be the most feared and potent symbol in the game.
Australian cricket’s one saving grace is that it is a cultural mainstay of Australian life, bound up in the fabric of the society of this nation, the favour of which is passed down through families from generation to generation, a game which even those who have only a passing interest will take some note when the Australian team go out to play.
This is of course being challenged by our multiculturalism with many Australians now not coming from a background where cricket is king in the summer sporting universe and alien games like soccer are in the ascendency in the minds of those who have not lived or died on the deeds of our gallant cricketing heroes in the heat of an Australian summer.
I pity those who don’t know the joy of seeing an aggressive Aussie fast bowler shattering the stumps of an English opener late in the day at the SCG or a batsman, the rock of the line up, flaying all those sent to test him to all parts of the ground and reinforce the myth that Australian cricketers are the best now and forever, even if it is in our own misguidedly patriotic opinion.
Those who haven’t scanned the Internet late at night or strained to listen to a transistor radio, snuggled up in bed in the middle of cold winters evening, listening fervently to Test matches from the other side of the world, from Leeds and Lords, Headingly and Old Trafford, dying with every wicket that falls to the Englishmen, simply don’t know what being an Aussie sporting fan is all about or the travails that affect the nation when the Ashes fall to the despised foe.
But, I will go down with this ship. My loyalty to the game and it’s players remains undiminished and even though I don’t agree with the manner in which the game is being run or the Australian team is being selected, I will stand by my nation and my team until the bitter end as a patriotic cricket fan is born to do.
I will take the slings and arrows, the successes of the past causing those who are now our superiors to regard us with disdain, and wait patiently for the phoenix of Australian cricket to arise once more as it surely will. As every nation which opposes us on the hallowed fields of play across the world are sure to know, Australian cricket will rise again and it surely will not be long before Everest is once again ours alone.
The stench of 1985 when our national team was a frustrating, talentless, unoccupied pelt masquerading as an international cricket team or worse still, an imitation of the worthless England teams thrown at us like a forlorn hope in the nineties, full of bits and pieces players, mercenaries from other nations or fellows who’s reputation and “team man”standing found them a spot in the side despite their apparent worthlessness are all comparisons being unearthed from the blurry recesses of history when it comes to regarding this current crop wearing the “Baggy Green”cap.
One can only despair at the thought of Michael Clarke, the only world class player in the lineup and the side’s gallant captain falling ill or injured and the rabble left being lead by the likes of the flaky Shane Watson. The Redcoats at Isandlwana would have stood more of a chance!
There is a lot wrong with the game in Australia at the moment and one can only suggest it stems from an arrogance and ignorance developed during the last “Golden Age”of Australian cricket when the national team stood alone at the top of Everest, chopping all contenders off at the knees whenever it looked as though they may be challenged as the leading light of the sport and the names of Waugh, Warne, McGrath were uttered in reverence in every household where cricket or sport itself was held in the highest favour.
Those days are long gone and the recent review into the game seems to have only created more problems as the average results in India at the moment are suggesting.
Of course there are major challenges facing cricket in it’s own land, challenges which are serious and must be addressed if the game is not to continue being overshadowed and depleted by Aussie Rules or, God forbid, the A-League soccer!
As a cricket “tragic”, I only hope that the business acumen is in place in cricket’s administration which will eventually overcome this torpor and the production line of great Australian cricketers which has continued in a long and steady state for nearly 150 years with only the odd air air bubble disrupting the flow, will once more be streaming ready made players out of the Sheffield Shield competition and on to the wickets of the world where they will again take centre stage and the Baggy Green cap will once more be the most feared and potent symbol in the game.
Australian cricket’s one saving grace is that it is a cultural mainstay of Australian life, bound up in the fabric of the society of this nation, the favour of which is passed down through families from generation to generation, a game which even those who have only a passing interest will take some note when the Australian team go out to play.
This is of course being challenged by our multiculturalism with many Australians now not coming from a background where cricket is king in the summer sporting universe and alien games like soccer are in the ascendency in the minds of those who have not lived or died on the deeds of our gallant cricketing heroes in the heat of an Australian summer.
I pity those who don’t know the joy of seeing an aggressive Aussie fast bowler shattering the stumps of an English opener late in the day at the SCG or a batsman, the rock of the line up, flaying all those sent to test him to all parts of the ground and reinforce the myth that Australian cricketers are the best now and forever, even if it is in our own misguidedly patriotic opinion.
Those who haven’t scanned the Internet late at night or strained to listen to a transistor radio, snuggled up in bed in the middle of cold winters evening, listening fervently to Test matches from the other side of the world, from Leeds and Lords, Headingly and Old Trafford, dying with every wicket that falls to the Englishmen, simply don’t know what being an Aussie sporting fan is all about or the travails that affect the nation when the Ashes fall to the despised foe.
But, I will go down with this ship. My loyalty to the game and it’s players remains undiminished and even though I don’t agree with the manner in which the game is being run or the Australian team is being selected, I will stand by my nation and my team until the bitter end as a patriotic cricket fan is born to do.
I will take the slings and arrows, the successes of the past causing those who are now our superiors to regard us with disdain, and wait patiently for the phoenix of Australian cricket to arise once more as it surely will. As every nation which opposes us on the hallowed fields of play across the world are sure to know, Australian cricket will rise again and it surely will not be long before Everest is once again ours alone.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 