The era of cricket i grew up watching i have seen many captains come and go. The most significant of them are the Aussie captains, namely Waugh and Ponting who have won the "World cup" as captains. The thing i most respected them for their attitude as a captain. Ponting in particular for his aggressiveness in the field. Ponting , "The Punter" , as they call him was in particular was a treat to watch his captaincy in the match. the "win it no matter how" attitude was the most significant one. The kind of aggressive field setting, the belief that your team is capable of handling the most of the difficult situations were few to name. But we cannot for get the infamous sydney test against India in 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But that adds to the message i'm trying to convey here.
On the other Aussie captain i'm talking about here , i think we all(at least most of us) have witnessed the 1999 World cup. How the Aussie were down without carrying any points into super six stage. Being defeated by Pakistan and new-zealand in the group stages,they were required to win all their matches in the super sixes facing strong teams like India and South Africa, which they won both in a very convincing fashion. Then Waugh led the Australians to a epic semi-final win(Yes, it was a tie but i would like to call it a victory). Honestly it was one of the best cricket matches in my list. Then they went on to massacre the Wasim Akram(Another great personality in the Cricketing world, both as a player and captain) led pakistani team. Even though there are may other occasions which proves the capabilities of Steve Waugh but i would rate this achievement of his the best.
Coming to their current successor Michael Clarke.To start with i dont see a leader in him to be able to lead a cricket team, that too one like the Australian cricket team. The Australian cricket team are like the Brazil of Football(some can call it Soccer). Even a second string would be competitive at the international level. To be able to lead a team like that you need someone who the team can look up to when they are in crisis, like the Waugh or the Ponting.I know its a little too early for this but i dont feel Clarke is truely capable of doing what Waugh and Ponting did for so long. He had been named the captain of the australia Twenty20 cricket much before than the ODI and Test, i would like to skip that part because of the little respect i have for the shortest form of the game. Micheal clarke took over as a captain of the Australian cricket team after Ricky ponting was sacked from the spot when they ended their rien on the World Cup in the 2011 Cricket world cup held in India. Many(including me) still think that punter should have been continued as the captain of the Aussie since he had that calibre to lead the team like that. But thats another story including the form dip , age etc etc. Lets talk about the first venture of clarke as the captain. The Australia tour of Sri Lanka was a rain struck tour. Yes they managed to win the test series 1-0 but to the australians standard and the current shape the Sri Lankan team is post world cup, we would expect aussie to win much more consistently. but they some how managed to win it. thanks to the excellent batting performance by M.Hussey and the formidable australian (pace)bowling attack. Also they were very less competitive in the ODI series. The next venture of australa was the SA tour. I think i need not remind you of the 2nd test match in the tour. Even though SA choked for 98 in their first inning, you would not expect Aussie to fold for as a low total as 47(Nevermind the fact that they were 21/9). Many may blame it on their batting failure, or the kind of wicket they were playing on but still the captain has to take responsibility for his teams actions and the consequences from it. Result series drawn 1-1, which according to me Aussie should have won quite convincingly. Atleast against the low confident South African team after they once again proved their "The Chokers" title in the World Cup quarterfinals against New Zealand. Here again the the ODI series was won by Aussies , but not very convincingly. Here thanks to Shane watson's good all-round performance.
Then came the worst of all. The new zealand tour of australia. According to me looking at the NZ team Aussies should have won the test series convincingly 2-0. But they managed only to draw the series 1-1. The second test match in particular in Hobart was the clear evidence for the fact that Post-ponting(As i would like to call it now) australian cricket team doesn't seem to working together as a single unit anymore. It looks as if each one is just bothered about their own business. They no more are bound by one strong leader that the Australian cricket team has been used to for so long a time. The likes of Waugh and Ponting had made the australian team to always look up to your captain when things are not going the way you would have appreciated. Each entity in a team has to be kept together and co-ordinated with at most interest by the captain of its team. The captain should be a person whom everyone in the team respects and obey his orders. And the captain should take responsibility of the whole team. Frankly i dont see clarke is doing a good enough job of leading a team like australia. You dont see that presence of a leader in the team that is constantly leading his team. Yes they are doing good against India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but i blame that in indians performing poor rather than Aussie doing great here. This leaves us with the question Is Clarke a competitive captain who can lead a team like australia. Will he be able to lead the Aussie to the top of Test Ranking again..?? Can clarke lead Australia to yet another world cup victory(Yes, next one is in 2015 in Australia and NZ). Can he bring back that murderous australian team back in to the world of cricket. Well its too early to make conclusion yet, but i dont see all these happening in the near future. Only time can answer these question. Lets wait and see what the new captain can do in his term. For now, enjoy the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Coming to their current successor Michael Clarke.To start with i dont see a leader in him to be able to lead a cricket team, that too one like the Australian cricket team. The Australian cricket team are like the Brazil of Football(some can call it Soccer). Even a second string would be competitive at the international level. To be able to lead a team like that you need someone who the team can look up to when they are in crisis, like the Waugh or the Ponting.I know its a little too early for this but i dont feel Clarke is truely capable of doing what Waugh and Ponting did for so long. He had been named the captain of the australia Twenty20 cricket much before than the ODI and Test, i would like to skip that part because of the little respect i have for the shortest form of the game. Micheal clarke took over as a captain of the Australian cricket team after Ricky ponting was sacked from the spot when they ended their rien on the World Cup in the 2011 Cricket world cup held in India. Many(including me) still think that punter should have been continued as the captain of the Aussie since he had that calibre to lead the team like that. But thats another story including the form dip , age etc etc. Lets talk about the first venture of clarke as the captain. The Australia tour of Sri Lanka was a rain struck tour. Yes they managed to win the test series 1-0 but to the australians standard and the current shape the Sri Lankan team is post world cup, we would expect aussie to win much more consistently. but they some how managed to win it. thanks to the excellent batting performance by M.Hussey and the formidable australian (pace)bowling attack. Also they were very less competitive in the ODI series. The next venture of australa was the SA tour. I think i need not remind you of the 2nd test match in the tour. Even though SA choked for 98 in their first inning, you would not expect Aussie to fold for as a low total as 47(Nevermind the fact that they were 21/9). Many may blame it on their batting failure, or the kind of wicket they were playing on but still the captain has to take responsibility for his teams actions and the consequences from it. Result series drawn 1-1, which according to me Aussie should have won quite convincingly. Atleast against the low confident South African team after they once again proved their "The Chokers" title in the World Cup quarterfinals against New Zealand. Here again the the ODI series was won by Aussies , but not very convincingly. Here thanks to Shane watson's good all-round performance.
Then came the worst of all. The new zealand tour of australia. According to me looking at the NZ team Aussies should have won the test series convincingly 2-0. But they managed only to draw the series 1-1. The second test match in particular in Hobart was the clear evidence for the fact that Post-ponting(As i would like to call it now) australian cricket team doesn't seem to working together as a single unit anymore. It looks as if each one is just bothered about their own business. They no more are bound by one strong leader that the Australian cricket team has been used to for so long a time. The likes of Waugh and Ponting had made the australian team to always look up to your captain when things are not going the way you would have appreciated. Each entity in a team has to be kept together and co-ordinated with at most interest by the captain of its team. The captain should be a person whom everyone in the team respects and obey his orders. And the captain should take responsibility of the whole team. Frankly i dont see clarke is doing a good enough job of leading a team like australia. You dont see that presence of a leader in the team that is constantly leading his team. Yes they are doing good against India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but i blame that in indians performing poor rather than Aussie doing great here. This leaves us with the question Is Clarke a competitive captain who can lead a team like australia. Will he be able to lead the Aussie to the top of Test Ranking again..?? Can clarke lead Australia to yet another world cup victory(Yes, next one is in 2015 in Australia and NZ). Can he bring back that murderous australian team back in to the world of cricket. Well its too early to make conclusion yet, but i dont see all these happening in the near future. Only time can answer these question. Lets wait and see what the new captain can do in his term. For now, enjoy the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Good one Bud, You have been little kind on Clarke though :-p
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