My News

09.01.08

The Times - Never mind the ‘Bollyline’, this is one of the great Australia sides

Published by Shane Warne

It is never nice to see cricket in the headlines for the wrong reasons. In a lot of ways I thought the Sydney Test between Australia and India was a fantastic game with an exciting finish. Not too many go down to the wire like that but, unfortunately, I guess it will be remembered for other events.

I am not getting involved in the “Bollyline” controversy because it would not help a difficult situation. People need to calm down. Suffice to say that it was not the first time that umpires have made mistakes, and it will not be the last. I hope that everything can be sorted out so we have another great game in Perth next week.

If Australia win that one, it will stretch the unbeaten run to 17 Tests. When we went up to 16 wins in 2001, I never thought that the record would be equalled.

Apart from having to play really well, there are just so many potential factors out of your control -poor pitches, injuries or heavy rain at the wrong time.

Back then it took something special to bring the sequence to an end: V. V. S.

Laxman scored a brilliant 281 in Calcutta after we made India follow on 274 runs behind. You couldn’t have seen that one coming. V. V. S. showed his class again at Sydney last week, but I would expect Australia to keep the run going this time.

It is unfair to compare one team with another from a different period. My guess is that, in 50 years’ time, the sides from 1999-2001 and 2005-07 will merge into one in most memories. In fact, there is only one guy -Ricky Ponting -who played in that first match nine years ago and was still there last week.

A few of us played some part in both periods, but I think it is a tribute to the strength in depth of Australian cricket that new players can come in and some great players leave without results going downhill. I can remember only two series defeats in that time -to India in 2001 and to somebody else in 2005.

Since losing the Ashes, Australia have won 20 matches out of 21. Incredible. The present side are playing a really exciting brand of cricket and one significant reason for the number of wins is the speed of run-scoring from the openers downwards, which gives the bowlers time to take wickets. Ultimately, though, it comes down to personnel.

Matty Hayden has rediscovered his touch, Ricky has had the best two years of his career, Michael Clarke has developed into a very mature player, Mike Hussey has been like a machine and Andrew Symonds is finally realising his potential. At the top, Phil Jaques has simply reproduced his form at state and county level.

Brett Lee is bowling better than ever. I think he is the second best pace bowler in the world right now. Stuart Clark is just above him for me, having taken over the mantle of Glenn McGrath in the past 18 months. I still think that Shaun Tait will be a significant figure because he can bowl at 99mph. He may play at Perth.

I do not agree that it is bad for cricket to have one side a long way ahead of the rest. The challenge is for the likes of South Africa, England and India -who can actually take a few positives from Sydney -consistently to reach the same levels of performance. If they can do that, then the overall standard will rise.

Players should want to challenge themselves against the best. There are similarities with Tiger Woods in golf and Roger Federer in tennis. They have set very high benchmarks, but what a challenge for a rival to go 18 holes at Augusta with Tiger, or to meet Federer in a grand-slam tournament final. That is what sport is about. 

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