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| Sweet taste of victory |
With a convincing victory in the Ashes over Australia in Australia’s own backyard, England has established itself as a serious contender for the No.1 spot in test arena. England’s coach Andy Flower too has echoed this view, “It’s realistic, and it’s achievable.” Not many would disagree with that. England team has been on the ascent for quite some time now. Right after Andrew Strauss had taken over from Kevin Pieterson, they have gone from strength to strength. With the most balanced test side in world cricket at this moment, they indeed looked too hot to handle for the Aussies right from the word go during the Ashes. In the end the result of 3-1 all but confirmed their dominance. Clearly the better side had stamped its authority over the other.
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| Perfect Farewell |
England’s awesome batting line up, superbly penetrating bowling line up and brilliant fielding unit, both close-in and otherwise, ensures that they start as favorites almost against any side in the world at this moment. Even Paul Collingwood’s retirement has come as a blessing in disguise to this immensely talented side as that was the only position which would be up for discussion at any selection committee meeting. With Eion Morgan breathing down his neck, Collingwood was under serious pressure all the time and it reflected in his recent performances. With him retired for good, in my opinion, Ian bell should move to the number three position (Bell batted at number six in the Ashes, he is too good a player to bat that low down the order) after Strauss and Cook, followed by KP at his customary number four and Trott at number five. Eion Morgan should take up the crucial number six position to make it one of the most formidable batting line up in the world. At seven Mathew Prior would provide the desired impetus, where as Tim Bresnan or Steward Broad would bat at number eight. Number nine is taken by Swann beyond doubt and would have to be followed by James Anderson and Cris Tremlet. Looking at the team, one would feel that such a combination comes once in a life time, as the experts opine, “This is the most settled side in world cricket.” And no, I am not getting carried away by their Ashes triumph alone; I am never bothered by results. I was impressed by how this team went ahead with the task in their hand. They played aggressive cricket right through the series, with a lot of self belief and showed everybody that they are indeed a force to reckon with as far as the test top ranking is concerned.
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| The faces say it all |
On the other hand, Australia are reeling at number five in the ICC ranking at present and I truly believe that they are placed at their rightful place. They don’t accept it, as Mike Hussey said a few days back after losing the test series to India, “I don’t think we are the number five side in the world, obviously there is something wrong in the ranking system.”
Well, I agree with him for the second part, that the current ranking system is not the most perfect as it gets, but certainly, it has got it right by ranking Australia at number five. The reason being, England, India and South Africa beyond doubt and Srilanka probably by the skin of their teeth would deserve to be placed ahead of the fast sliding Aussies. Shane Warne was bang on when he urged them to accept that they are indeed at the fifth position, because only by doing that would they strive to improve.
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| Time for serious introspection |
Indeed, Australia has to shed their arrogance in a hurry. Ricky Ponting, if he wants to play for a couple more years, has to let go of the captaincy and concentrate on his game alone. And they just can’t play Steven Smith at number six; he is just not good enough for that position. He can’t be played as a batting all-rounder. They need some drastic changes, may be a near complete revamp. I don’t follow their domestic cricket that much, so can’t really comment on who should be brought in, but all I can say is that the current bunch of players are victims of so much negativity at this moment that they simply don’t seem to be able to move forward. They have been losing almost every match they are playing and that’s certainly not a great feeling.
All said and done, the Ashes, in my opinion, has put things in perspective for two of the top five sides in world cricket. While it has helped the cricket world to sit up and take notice of England as one of the best three sides (even you could call it one of the best two- we would discuss that in a different post) in the world in terms of ability and not ranking, if also has confirmed the Aussies to be at the bottom of the top five.
