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Sport and Australia are synonymous and
Cricket is deeply entrenched in Australian culture.—an
indispensable part of Australian life. It began in Australia as early as
1806 somewhere near Sydney –a match played between regiments of the
army, but the 1st official test match was played between England and
Australia in the 1870’s. In fact the word “test matches” has its origin
there. As the matches did not in toto represent the best players of both
countries, they were called” test matches” and the name stuck. No
account of Australian and English cricket will be complete without the
origin of the ashes.
The single test played by Australia in England was historical. A very
low scoring affair, England lost the test in spite of having more than
35 runs lead in the 1st innings. Peeved, the English media wrote an
obituary of English cricket stating that it had died and that its ashes
would be taken to Australia. Since then the series between Australia and
England has been dubbed as a quest for the “ashes”. Many stories revolve
as to what the urn actually contains. Some say it is a burnt ball, a
woman’s veil and others say that it is a burnt bail. Whatever it may be,
it is the dream of every Englishman and Australian to get hold of the
“ashes”.
The first decade of the 1900’s saw Australia playing in England more
frequently and for the first time toured South Africa. Unlike the 5-day
test match of the present era, most of the matches were of 3day duration
and some fell into the category of “timeless test matches” Darling and
Noble were captains during this period. The 2nd decade of the 1900’s saw
Australia invite South Africa and England to play on home ground. It
also toured England and South Africa twice and played some matches in
USA , Canada, Philadelphia and Toronto.
Don Bradman, the greatest batsmen ever to have played cricket appeared
on the scene in the 1930’s and scored an average of more than a 100
runs, a feat which perhaps eclipsed all other accomplishments at that
time. After a slowdown due to World War II, Don Bradman just took off
from where he had stopped. Bradman was regarded as a hero then and is a
model for many upcoming batsmen even now. Bradman was tough and stood up
to bodyline bowling by Douglas Jardine and Harold larwood. During the
1950’s under the captaincy of Richie Benaud, Australian cricket reached
new heights. In addition to England and South Africa, the West Indies
also entered the fray and 5 day and 6 day test matches came into vogue.
Bob Simpson and Bill lawry (a prolific batsman) together captained
Australia in more than 40 matches. It was roughly at this time that
Australia cricket ventured into new pastures. Rhodesia and New Zealand
became unofficial test playing nation and Graham McKenzie, a fiery fast
bowler who took more than 200 test wickets, appeared on the scene.
All however was not well on the Australian front as its cricketers felt
that they were being exploited by the administration. This disquiet led
to the biggest breakaway in test cricket. Kerry Packer, a prosperous
businessman offered the players hefty pay packets to play the World
Series Cricket. Cricketers who felt that they had been deprived by the
Australian board joined the two respective teams. There was opposition
and condemnation all around when Ian Chapel became captain of the
breakaway Australia team and Tony Greig was captain of the World x1.
Kerry Packer forced the Cricket board to change its stance and cricket
was never the same again. Fast bowlers like Dennis Lillie and Jeff
Thompson made their mark and Rod marsh was hailed as a very good wicket
keeper. Australia was never short of talent for once these bowlers took
a back seat, Craig McDermott, Rackemann, Merv Hughes arrived on the
scene. The brothers Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh coupled with Dean Jones
and David Boon constituted an impressive batting line up., During the
1990’s, The famous Glen McGrath appeared on the scene and even today is
a formidable bowler. Shane Warne, the spinner for Australia made a name
for himself. Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Taylor respectively
captained Australia and ensured that Australia became almost invincible.
Batsmen like Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Michael Bevan, Gilchrist,
bowlers like Brett Lee, Gillespie and Kasprowicz surfaced and they had
it really good.. The year 2005 saw a slide in Australian Cricket with
Australia losing the ashes to England. In the one-day matches however,
Australia has been able to hold its own.
All said and done, no one can doubt the supremacy of Australian cricket.
The dedication and determination that every player has makes him give
his best all the time. In all departments of the game, be it fielding,
bowling, batting or wicket-keeeping, Australian cricketers fall into the
top bracket. Whenever they come on to the field, it is sheer pleasure to
watch the exhibition of professionalism that they display.
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Authored by M. Hemdev.
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