A humdinger awaits….

Australia is down but to count them out would be foolish. The year 2008 might have been their annus horribilis, but that is only relative to their recent history. They lost to India in India, which except for one series in 2004 (that too with extraordinary help from Nagpur Cricket Association and weather gods in Chennai) has been the way for more than 3 decades now. Of course, they lost a home series in almost 2 decades against South Africa. But the series was a very closely fought contest, with South Africa producing some excellent cricket during the critical moments. Let us not forget that until the 4th innings miracle in Perth, Australia always had their noses ahead in that test. In Melbourne, it was the spirited partnership between Dale Steyn and Duminy that tilted the scales in South Africa’s favor. And in Sydney South Africa might have won the hearts, but lets not forget that Australia won the match.

To sing the death knell for Australian cricket based on this evidence would be myopic. Of course, they will not be the dominant team that they were in world cricket for sometime to come. Not only are they feeling the pain of large scale retirements of some of the all-time greats, they are also confronted with the rise of South Africa and India as a test team. Test Cricket has not been so healthy in a long long time. South Africa has the best fast bowling attack in the world, a high quality batting line up, a confident captain to go with it. India might look the best team in the world right now because of their all round strength but the real test will come when Sachin, Dravid and Laxman decide to hang up the boots. Moreover, Australia for all its fall from peak is still a very competitive team. Their batting has the firepower to produce consistently high scores, bowling would be very effective if Bret Lee can rediscover his form and Stuart Clark can rediscover his fitness. The battle for No.1 is going to be very exciting indeed.

Part of that battle has already begun in South Africa and Australia is fighting every inch to restore their lost supremacy albeit their not so supreme resources. This is the going to be the real test for South Africa; they are the favorites to win this series especially at home. Anything less would be disappointing. This is what separates champions from challengers; this is what Australia consistently achieved for more than a decade. How do you motivate yourself when the best that you could achieve is taken for granted! Now that is South Africa’s biggest challenge, If they win the series it would be more of a relief than a celebration. South Africa, welcome to the Champions’ prison of identity! Graeme Smith might do well to take some tips from Roger Federer on life in that prison…