SYDNEY: It wasn’t long ago that Australians used to patronise the English cricket team as a joke, during a dominant run of eight Ashes series victories when winning became habitual.
They’re not laughing now.
Australian cricket is in the pits, amidst accusatory finger-pointing, and as England savour a golden era, the once pre-eminent Aussies wallow in a black hole of their own making.
Australia capitulated to a crushing 347-run defeat at Lord’s on Sunday with more than a day left to hand Alastair Cook’s team a 2-0 series lead with three Tests to play.
That was their sixth consecutive Test defeat, coming on the back of a 4-0 series loss in India -- their worst performance in 29 years, and just one loss away from the record of seven straight reverses from 1884-87.
When skipper Michael Clarke, in his post-match interview, refused to accept that Australia’s hopes of retrieving the Ashes were finished, he was openly mocked by sections of the Lord’s crowd.
This Australian side has been denigrated as the worst ever to tour England and recriminations in Australia are rife. Former greats have not held back in their condemnation of the team.
Allan Border, who as captain rebuilt a similarly enfeebled Australian team in the mid-1980s, laying the foundations for a long period of dominance, said the top batting order should be embarrassed. Fast bowling great Glenn McGrath declared the team had hit rock-bottom.
Blame for Australia’s demise has been dumped not only on the current players but also on Cricket Australia (CA) for its focus on the Twenty20 Big Bash League, which has taken scheduling precedence over the traditional four-day Sheffield Shield, the nursery of future Test stars.
Former captain Ricky Ponting, who has fended off calls to come out of retirement to rescue his country, chided CA for its preoccupation with the glitzy Big Bash at the expense of the national team.
CA has also come in for some flak over its controversial sacking of coach Mickey Arthur, just weeks before the start of the Ashes series, and replacing him with Darren Lehmann.
Arthur’s sacking has led to a damaging lawsuit, which exploded just before the Lord’s Test. But Australia team performance chief Pat Howard insists his organisation did not err in changing coaches so close to the Ashes.
Discipline has been a factor, with opener Shane Watson among four players sent home from India for not submitting written feedback requested by Arthur, in what was dubbed the “homework” incident.
And in England, batsman David Warner was banned for punching England’s Joe Root in a bar following a Champions Trophy defeat, and was then sent to Africa for match practice with Australia A.
Former captain Greg Chappell believes it may take two years for Australian cricket to get out of the mire. Chappell, who has seen the recent decline as Cricket Australia’s national talent manager, said Australia had been slow to react as the game changed. He warned there were no quick fixes, comparing the current situation to the mid-1980s.
“It took us a couple of years in the mid-’80s and I think we’re looking at a similar sort of process here,” Chappell said. REUTERS
