I wrote some time ago about one international cricket dynasty (https://fivemilesout.home.blog/2020/09/26/im-so-tired-of-trying/ ), they were succeeded by an Australian dynasty. In fact Australia being the best team in the world is the default position for world cricket, but being young in the 70s and 80s it seems odd for the West Indies not to be the best.
Australia had been the best team in the world in the 1970s, but then World Series Cricket happened. A tournament run by Kerry Packer that recruited almost all the top Australians, West Indians and a few from other countries. One Australian exception was Kim Hughes who was not well liked by Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee, the superstars of the team.
(Marsh, Chappell and Lillee)
After peace broke out Chappell was Australian Captain again, except he did not tour. Hard as it is to believe the Australian Board accepted that decision and kept him as Captain at home. Kim Hughes was skipper abroad, but without Chappell the team was much weaker – they only won against Sri Lanka away from home (and Sri Lanka were a minnow then).
The superstars retired and Australia were demolished in 1984/85 by the supreme West Indies team and they targeted Hughes (like they targeted all opposing captains). Hughes tearfully resigned from his position and was dropped. Meanwhile a rebel series to apartheid South Africa was being organised – which Hughes ended up leading after not being picked to tour England.
Allan Border took over as captain with a severely weakened team, including players who had been going rebel but had been paid to stay with the main team – not the way to foster team spirit. First they beat the West Indies on a spinner’s paradise in Sydney but then lost the Ashes in England (English fans are always at pains to point out that we were without our rebels when we lost the Ashes in 82/83; but are far less vocal about the fact that the Aussies did not have their rebels when we won in 85 and 86/87).
Australia did not win a series from 1983/84 until beating New Zealand in in 87/88 (though they fought bravely in the second ever tied test in India and drew that series). That win and winning the 1987 World Cup started the revival. Border became Captain Grumpy and they swept England aside 4-0 in 1989. Border never managed a series win against the West Indies, though the margins were just 2-1 in the last two series he played them (including one match they lost by the thinnest of margins). (I admit to a Border bias – he made the most of his talent, played two seasons for Essex and on the one occasion I met him, at Fenners in Cambridge when he was part of an Essex team playing the university, was a really great guy).
(Allan Border with the Ashes)
Mark Taylor took over and the team continued its rise – the debut of Shane Warne being an immensely important part of their rise to dominance. From 1993 to 2008 the team lost justsix series out of forty-three (one in Pakistan, one in Sri Lanka, three in India – they never beat India at home – and one in England).
(Shane Warne’s Ball of the century)
In that period the team also won three consecutive World Cups – obliterating a powerful India team in the 2003 final and showing immense character in 1999 to win a semi-final against South Africa that they should have lost (and starting South Africa’s reputation as World Cup chokers).
The team was strong enough to pretty much ignore the talents of Stuart Law and Darren Lehman, men who would have been the mainstays of other international teams. Players were dropped if they did not perform or if they did not have the right approach and attitude.
Under Steve Waugh they doubled down and became one of the most aggressive attacking teams in the world. Now with the talents of Glenn McGrath to open the bowling they were almost invincible. If you were picking a best Australian team of all time it would be hard to deny that Taylor, Hayden, Ponting, Steve Waugh, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath would not be part of it (I would add Bradman, Greg Chappell, Lillee and Lindwall to make an 11).
The dynasty’s downfall was the 2005 series against England. It was a close series with England winning 2-1. Not just that but England’s victories were by 2 runs at Edgbaston and 3 wickets at Trent Bridge (heart in mouth time as Warne looked unplayable as England chased a low total). Glenn McGrath was injured for these matches – now that is something you have to expect with fast bowlers as they get older, England had suffered multiple issues with injuries throughout the 1990s, but if he had not been I am certain England would not have won either game.
This was genuinely a series that enthralled the UK as it was a constant subject of discussion at work and when I visited my family. I was in the kitchen in Brightlingsea when Brett Lee and Mike Kasprowicz almost pulled off a miracle victory at Edgbaston.
(Andrew Flintoff comforts Brett Lee at the end of the 2005 Edgbaston test)
The bigger thing for the Australians turned out to be that no one wanted to leave on a bum note like that and pretty much the same team destroyed England 5-0 in 2006/07. Then the retirements came thick and fast. McGrath and Warne at the end of the series – two of the best bowlers of all time – no team would be the same without them, as well as Justin Langer. Adam Gilchrist and Matt Hayden followed just six tests later. Jason Gillespie had gone just before that Ashes series.
(Langer, McGrath and Warne retire from test cricket – great players but glad to see the back of them)
If Australia had won in England in 2005 I think those retirements would have been spread out more. Ricky Ponting had to cope with rebuilding a team in the way that no one had had to do since Border in 1985 (I never understood the English hatred of Ponting – talented batsman and a great commentator). This is not to say that Australia became a bad team – they continue to be a strong team and win far more than they lose. But they are no longer a great team – the dynasty was broken.
Glenn McGrath’s ankle injury at Edgbaston may not have just lost them that test it may have meant the end to the second great international cricket dynasty of my lifetime.
One song from Gloworm – the title always reminds of those squeaky bum moments in 2005.
Carry Me Home
Five Miles Out 