The perfect captain

Australia has been blessed with plenty of determined and classy captains. From the original skipper Dave Gregory, to the classy all-rounder and now legendary commentator Richie Benaud, and on to the strong-willed and canny Ian Chappell.

In arguably Australia’s greatest cricketing age, there have been four that have taken on the challenge; Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.

All had unique skills and abilities, and all were determine individuals. On pure ability, Punter is miles ahead of the other three, while Tubby was the least gifted. AB and Tugga were decent all-rounders in their prime, but Punter and Tubby were highly gifted fieldsmen.

Their respective terms of leadership were also highly unique and reflective of their character. AB was probably the most singled-minded of them all, probably based on the fact he played during Australia’s lowest ebb and then worked his hardest to get the team back to the top. Ponting and Waugh have been in charge during Australia’s dominance in the last eight years or so. But they inherited a team that had already claimed the top spot.

The man that set that chain of events off was Mark Taylor, close to, if not already, Australia’s greatest test captain. Taylor inherited a strong team from Allan Border that had established itself well and then set the wheels in motion to make that squad invincible. During his time Warne and McGrath came of age, players such as Steve Waugh came into their prime, and they churned out talent at a time that could have enabled two strong Australian teams to run around.

Taylor was the most balanced captain of the four. He was bright, energetic, generous and highly diplomatic. At the same time he could also be utterly ruthless without being downright cruel. He was immensely respected for his courage and tenacity, and tactically he was not merely astute, but can be considered one of the finest visionaries of his time.

He did what no Australian skipper had done since Ian Chappell in 1972-73 and toppled the West Indies in the West Indies, thus establishing themselves as the undoubted world champions, a position they still hold.

He is held is such high regard by those he played under that they consider him the finest captain they have played under. Such a credit is not to be taken lightly in Australia’s golden era, but it could go to no better player than the lad from Wagga Wagga.

Outgunned, outclassed

Everyone has gone bananas. India has beaten Australia in the second test and beaten them comfortably.

Any informed cricket spectator would have told you that it was expected.
Australia headed into this series with a transitional line-up, no spinner, no McGrath (Who arguably still had psychological holds over some batsmen), and undoubtedly a more fragile psyche than we’ve seen from historic Australian sides.

Following the hysteria and controversy of the Sydney test earlier this year, Australia went out in Perth noticeably meeker than usual. Perhaps they have met their match with a team that has taken inspiration to play with strong aggression.

To put it quite simply, Australia were outplayed by a better team. India is a better team on paper, and in Mohali they were vastly superior on the field. The only criticism I can make of India is that they should have scored 900 on the pitch in the first innings. Australia did well to bowl them out for less than 500+.

No-one expected Australia to win this series and they undoubtedly surprised people with their spirited show in Bengaluru, probably winning the majority of that test. There was no such inadequacy from India in Mohali.

As India has clamped down on Australia, the poor standard of umpiring has flown under the radar. Shane Watson got away with the most obvious LBW since cricket began. And Australia had a critical decision go against them when a stumping for Ganguly was not referred to the third umpire, replays proving he was out. Ganguly was in the 30’s at the time and went on to 102.
India is likely to win this series in what will be a swansong for their older generation, and then the challenge for India begins as they have to cover for their fab four and Anil Kumble (Although Amit Mishra seems like an excellent replacement).

A win against Australia at home will be a great moment for them, but at the end of the series, Australia will likely remain the number one side and will remain so until they get knocked off at home, which hasn’t happened since 92-93.

Exciting times.