The reasons behind Australia's [Images] dominance: Readers' response

Srinivas Rangarajan

Australia's dominance in both forms of the game is due their ability to win matches under any circumstances

In Adam Gilchrist [Images] batting at No 7 (I think the best No 7 ever  to play in the history of the game) they never look under any pressure.

Also credit should be given to Steve Waugh's leadership qualities, if not for his resilience against India in the Sydney test, Australia would have lost the test series.

This makes them the most formidable force in both forms of the game.

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Amit Abhyankar

The current Aussie cricket team is thorough professionalism personified. It is a well known fact that in the cricketing world
these days, there's the Aussies, then there is daylight, and then there's the rest.

But amidst all this brouhaha about the 'invincible' Aussies, one must not forget that 90% of their current squad of test and one day players is around 35 years of age, and will be exiting around the same time.

As a backup, I am sure they have good batsmen coming up the ranks in domestic cricket. Guys like Hodge, the Hussey brothers, of course Clarke and a few others surely make the batting future look  bright, but the same cannot be said about their bowling prowess. Guys like Nathan Bracken [Images], Brad Williams and Shaun Tait have been below par.

So there is light at the end of the tunnel for the other teams. But sadly, they have to depend on the decline of the Aussies to dethrone them for as of this moment, the Aussies are truly INVINCIBLE.

Wish you all the very best of luck Mr. Vaughan.

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Jeevan Mali

Their dominance in world cricket is due to proper planning.

Also they dont support individualism.....team matters them than any superstar or personal milestone

Their selectors and the ACB support them...in every crises....

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Mohan Thomas

All in this: Professionalism prevails over Commercialism

Cheers

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Niranjan Josyula :

The reasons are simple and straight:

1. More professional in their approach in the last 20 years. Approach includes
  a. clear vision, development plan and implementation
  b. no intervention from private parties with vested interests
  c. only a few voices to contend any issues which results in quick resolution of issues and clearcut decicsion making

This is evident
a. from the way players like Stuart McGill, Darren Lehman, Simon Katich, Michael Karparowic, Brett Lee [Images], Andrew Bichel continuously struggle to make it to the team and are kept on toes to retain their place.
b. from the way disciplinary actions are handled
c. selection process
d. impressive reserves

2. More "heads-down" approach while at the game.  They remember the basics well.  We have plenty of times where best of the cricketers including our own Dravid getting run out by not dragging his bat even though they have reached the end with their legs still haging in the air well inside the crease.  We seldom see such things happen with the Australians.  Also to note are the incidents like Herchelle Gibbs epic catch (or miss) in the World Cup in England [Images] which allowed Steve "tugga" Waugh to go on to make a century and win that match and then the semifinal and the world cup.  And almost similar situation in the Semifinal where Donald was tamely run out when needing just one run

3. Handling the pressure well.  This also comes because they dont leave anything to possibility and give it their all by focusing on basics all the time

4. Better strategy - they will have not just one but a few plans for every team and every player of every team.  This, they constantly and consistently do for every session, day, match, series.

5. Fitness - Their focus on not just physical but also mental fitness is unparallelled.  This helps them with a. running between the wickets, fielding better and trying harder in unfriendly situations and conditions and crunch situations

6. Last but not the least luck and partisan umpiring, partisan behavior and judgement of international cricket law regulators like umpires and refrees - situations like bans (for small actions) on Tendulkar, Sehwag and other Asian cricketers, abject umpiring decisions during the 1995 to 2002 seasons where teams were allowed to have one home umpire officiate with one international umpire in tests as well (there are plenty of them for example on this) and some stupid decisions by even neutral umpires against Asian cricketers (by the likes of Steve Bucknor [Images], David Shepherd..).  This may not be such a big factor but there were quite a few games that were decided by these kind of umpiring decisions where Australians were having their nose to the ground and just scraped through.  These games would have dented the 76% win and brought it down to about 60-65% which still is quite substantial.

Cheers!!

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Mohan:

All in this: Professionalism prevails over Commercialism

Cheers,

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Khan Nazim:

Nothing succeeds like success. The present Australian team has well lived up to this adage. The winning habit of this team helps it to get out of pressure cooker stuations with ease.

Its all in the mind, they say. And the mental toughness of this Aussie team is next to none, If we categorically compare each of the players, we find that the team does not contain much world class players, apart from McGrath, Warne and a few others. However, cricket being a team game, the present bunch of Aussies, so tough, so ruthless, gel together very well.

There is a world of difference between a team of champions and a champion team. This is what differentiates Australia in cricket to, lets say, Real Madrid [Images] in Soccer.

The toughness that exuberates from every Australian yellow shirt, comes from the fact that the rigours of tough domestic cricket makes them positive.

If you want to beat them, you have to be positive and believe you can win. Last but not the least, the thorough professionals that they are, there are hardly any teams to possess the right mix of toughness, ruthlessness, attitude, self-belief to beat them.

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Dinakar Pandu:

The domestic competition is so tough that only consistent performing players make to the national team.   As somebody rightly said still another national team can be made from the leftovers that still can beat any side in the world.  And once the players make it to the national side, they strive to be best than the others while still working as a team.  Their captains demonstrate a sound stewardship and derive respect and discipline and strictly follow the standards set by their predecessors working tirelessly to upgrade them and laying the base for their sucessors.  Each player labors to pump their 100% into the team and often bring their team out of the clutches.  The role played by Andy Bichel in the last World Cup is a stunning example of this. Likewise there are many others all along the course and not surprisingly they keep rolling out of the factory called "Australian Cricket"

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Sameer Kamat:

most important reason for australia's dominance is the rotational policy. the team never feels handicap even if big stars are out or resting!! second thing, they evaluate on the basis of recent performance...why is brett lee out of test team for the last 1 year??? if he is struggling to get in the side, can u imagine what qualitites u require to get in team australia? our cricketers are lucky, they have people backing them, if ganguly is banned, we have rallies out in streets. i think we should forget about tendulkar, ganguly and search new people, or we wont match any team in the next world cup.

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Syed Amjad Hussaini:

the reasson for australia'a dominance is nothing but their killer extinct ,whenever they go ut in the field , they go for a kill.wWhether its batting or bowling they push their opponents back to the wall.In batting, they are players in the opening like gilchirist and hayden who can intimidate any bowling attack.They bat so aggressively,even the slightest width they will cash onto it.in the middle order they are players like ponting,martyn, symmonds,clarke who can keep the momentum.In bowling there is glenn mcgrath the "BOWLING MACHINE" and is rightly called and gillespie and there is lee who can shake the opposition with his fast bouncers and yorkers and to complete the bowling attack,there is the master leg spinner shane warne ,well.. wht can u say about him...the whole world knows it.

In fielding no one can match them,symmonds,ponting etc can change the match with their fielding.They are two more reasons well there r lot more but these are more instrumental in their sucess.

1.Their ability to win close matches,thats where austrakia is ahead against most of the teams.They handle their nerves beautifully.
2.Their bench strength is excellent.If one goes,the other comes and makes a impact whether its bowling or fielding.The classic example is Michael Clarke [Images].

For next few years and perhaps many more australia's supremacy over world cricket will continue...

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Sharath Mohan.M:

Hi,
 
It is very true to say that the easiest job in this world is to captain the present Australian cricket team. They are such a bunch of talented guys that all the captain has to do is to go out for the toss and let the other players do the rest.
 
Their batting is very dominant , to say the least. To see a batsman like Gilchrist coming in at No.7 can be demoralizing to most of the opposing teams. And coming to their bowling, they always have a quartet of bowlers who are relentless in their ways. They are extremely professional and committed to their cause. Result of this can be seen in their tremendous bench strength. Today an Australian B team may be hard to defeat for most of the other international teams.
 
The result of all this is that the Aussies have raised the level of the game overall and have set higher bench marks for the other teams to reach. Gone are the times when teams used to score around 300 runs in a day's play and be satisfied. Today Aussies try and score @ 4 per over which puts a lot of pressure on the opposition.
 
As far as their weakness is concerned, it could come a couple of years later when Mcgrath, Gillespie, Warne & Kasporowics may not be around. Although they have Brett Lee who is still very young, their fast bowling and spin bowling resources are a bit slim.
       
Overall they are superior to most of the other teams in world cricket today and I am sure the verdict will be out in October '05 when they play a super series against the rest of the world XI.
 
But as Indians we can be proud of the fact that the only team in world cricket today which has given a tough time to the aussies are our own team India, at least in the longer version of the game.
 
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Satya [Images]:

I think Australian dominance is because they select players who are specialist batsmen for their batting positions and are match-winners batting at those positions. Each of them are aware that the one that follows are more than capable of winning the game on their own and that takes the pressure off. While all batsmen protect the tail-enders, Steve Waugh used to rotate strike and make them bat thereby recognizing their batting skills and instilling faith at the same time. He therefore has more success batting with the tail than any other person in contemporary cricket. Imagine what happens to a young cricketer when Steve Waugh thinks you are a batsman.

They have a game plan and work hard at implementing it. It is simple in its execution. Knock off the head and see how the rest of the body  functions without it. Simply sit back and find out small chinks in the armor that can be exploited or create such a chink using the media.

Therefore, Unpredictability can beat Australia. They have done their homework, they know what to expect. That is their forte. It is the unexpected that can rattle them. When a Sachin or a Laxman jumps way outside leg stump to hit a leg-spinner over covers.

I think that is why the Indian team has won a series or two. They are talented, and above all, unpredictable.

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Amrish Bandagale:

Aussie Aussie Aussie!!   Oi Oi Oi!!
 
great work mate! Very pleased to see this whole page dedicated to the Greatest Cricket team of all-time.
 
The Aussies rule Big-time mainly because of their hunger to keep on winning. A measure of a team/individual's greatness in sport is how boring it makes the sport to watch. Similar cases are Michael Schumacher [Images] in F1 and Pete Sampras [Images] in tennis.
 
The Aussie test juggernaut started with their First Frontier in WI' 95, and they made a complete revolution of a kind with the Final Frontier in India' 04. Two common factors through this period, especially in these two triumphs are Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne [Images]. That speaks volumes about the fact that they are irreplaceable.
 
But despite these achievements, they never slowed down, as seen against NZ and Pak recently.
 
My best wishes for them to go ahead and gun down England this summer and win the 2007 World Cup.
 
Australia, Australia, you freakin beauty!!

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Shan:

Killer instinct and nerves of steel are the 'secrets' of their success, which set them apart from any other team�.

Thanks

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Mudassir Ehsan:

All,

Australias are World Champions and have looked unstoppable over the last decade. The have complete all round team strength and their players have the nack of chipping in with important contributions at critical times. Guts, courage, discipline and ability to do the basics right are the most important aspects of the Aussie game.

But, as always, there is always the other side of the story. What made Australia, what they are ? No doubt all the above qualities with great skill and talent. But, I will definitely like to add a few more points which has played as much as a critical role (or even more) and has contributed to their success.

Let us analyze a few critical situations which have given them long term glories.

1. Pakistan tour of Australia - 1999/2000 Series

Australia win 1st test prett comfortably. The Second Test was the real crunch game. Chasing  369 for victory Australia was trailing at 126/5 with just one good pair at the crease - Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist. These two are undoubtedly good batsmen but were made better in that match with 2 lives - unquestionable wrong decisions against Pakistan. These decisions did not mean much in terms of one team winning in an unjust way and the other losing unfortunately. But, these decisions mean that this made one of those critical victories in the long stint of 16 successive Aussie wins.

2. India tour of Australia - 2000 Series (Just after the above series)

No Indian will forget the number of wrong decisions which were given against them and not to forget the Head-before-Wicket, oops sorry it was Leg-Before-Wicket for the Aussie umpire.

From a critical stand point, the above series were the real start of the Aussie dominance. I can quote many many instances when atrocious umpring decisions have come to Australia's rescue when staring at defeat and also won them matches which could have gone either way. I can also mention here about the most recent Pakistan tour of Australia, Bob Woolmer [Images] counted it to be 26 wrong decisions against pakistan versus the 4 against Australia.

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Banerjee, Samir

Australian cricket authorities justified the essence of good foresight planning which is giving them dividend for more than a decade.

They have nursed talent, persisted with non-compromising training schedule provided rotation to give opportunities to those who showed promise either in the academy or in national competitive games.

The fruits have been such that there are plenty with varieties to spare to compose another national team.

The transition from one captain to other made no difference in the performance of the Team Australia. In the lean period when one of their captains was passing through authorities never thought of removing him from the captaincy and the end result was the captain become one of the best in the world.

They are great.

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Rajiv  Narayanan

Australia dominates the cricket arena like a colossus due to its immaculate planning.

The strengths and weaknesses of the opposing players are analysed by the coach and a game plan arrived at for each player by the think tank.

Thereafter a plan with contingency plans arrived at.

That is what is executed by the band of talented players ruthlessly.

This is achieved by the competitive domestic circuit producing talented boys who are then molded as men by the Team when they join them.

It is easy if each player knows what his job is during the game - he can then concentrate on doing it to the best of his ability.

But then the person is given the job based on his mental and physical abilities!!!

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Aadarsh Dwivedi

Hi,

I think it is the duo of McGrath-Warne that has done the trick. Both are the best bowlers in their department � the other bowlers are just collecting the spoils.

The third guy to make a difference is Gilchrist. It gives them a long batting line up of seven batsmen with everybody equally capable of scoring a double hundred on his day!

It is highly improbable that a team has such a duo of bowlers ably supported by a bunch of talented and mature batsmen would ever be seen again. 

After the decline of these three, the dominance of Aussies will never be the same.

Cheers,

Addy

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Shantanu Soman

I think the Australians play more professionally than any other side in cricket.

They have an amazing desire to dominate and win and they fight hard for it each time.

They are never complacent and are always fully prepared before any game.

This keeps them ahead of their opposition.

I think India has a lot to learn from the Aussies but first India needs some good bowlers like Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath.

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Sridhar/ MAA

Its very very Simple. They are discipline in all aspects of the game.

I would like to appreciate the Board of Cricket in Australia for this stupendous success & professional approach to keep their team in No.1 position.

Rgds,

Sridhar

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Srikanth K

Hi,

It is mainly due to their consistency, commitment.

Go for kill spirit of the bowler and unquestionable commitment of batsmen, players ability to play according to situation and most importantly good captainacy.

Thanks & Regards,

Srikanth. K

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Ali Yawer Usmani

Nothing!!  Except the emergence of McGrath.

See his presence and the tests Australia won.

Not even Shane warne comes close.

And the two series they lost, Mcgrath wasn't there!!

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Raghu Srinivasan

Hi,

A decade of dominance in both the forms of cricket!

Kudos to all the Aussies who made it possible. A decade of test cricket with just 4 series lost and three series drawn shows their consistency and involvement.

Their lost series were against India and Sri Lanka [Images]. In Sri Lanka they lost the first test and other two tests were interrupted by rain.

They were beaten by Indians thrice including one one-off test. But they came back strongly.

They did their homework and won the series last time they toured the sub-continent.

Two of the three drawn series were the results of two individual brilliance-Lara and Dravid.

One of the series was marred by rain against NZ. Taylor  was an intelligent captain, Waugh (WOW) a strategic captain and Ponting with just two seasons under his captaincy has lost just one game, an agressive one.

"Professionalism" one thing other international teams should learn from this team.

No wonder they reached three world cup finals and won two of them.

Amazing fact is they played under three different captains.

I have read a lot about Bradman's Invincibles but I can tell the coming generations I have watched one.

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Keshava  Babu

Well there is nothing great about their dominance - Harbhajan is right - they are vulnerable and of all teams in the C'World, India has shown them the door!

Only point is that every member in their team gives 100%+ to study, analyse and play - more specifically, they play as a "Team" and rise to the occasion, never meekly give up. 

They are exposed to one of the best facility in the learning curve and if Indians are given that kind of regime, I bet, no team in the world can even DREAM of beating us, as could seen from our records of excellence, even in the worst professional scenario!

Once India is bereft of all the internal chaos (read politics, player abuse et al), we can and will be Numero Uno - and rightly so, as our dear Sardarji heartfully says - that day isn't far.

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Ashok Nayak

Thoroughly Professional Approach, +ve Attitude and Ruthless Captain on the field.

With Regards,

A A Nayak

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Lakshminarayana Krishna Murthy

Australian Cricket Setup follows the policy followed by the world's premier IT companies; thus they are always the best in the business.

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• Australia's decade of dominance: Complete coverage