What makes Aussies the world champions

IT IS not without reasons that the Australians are officially crowned world champions of cricket. Steve Waugh and company have won so much under the sun in the last three years, including the 1999 World Cup and a record sixteen Tests in a row, that they fully deserve the recognition. So awesome is their reputation that their success in any form of international cricket is often taken for granted.

They have now left behind those mighty West Indian sides of the 1980s under Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards by miles in terms of total cricket, complete dominance and amazing winning streak.

They have achieved almost everything and there is no reason why they should not be favourably compared with any other great side the game may have seen, including Don Bradman's immediately after World War II.

Australia is a vast continent, stretching some 3000 miles from east to west and about 1500 miles from north to south.

The nation may not have much to show in other fields but when it comes to sporting excellence few countries can match Australia.

Australia has always prided itself on its sporting heroes, whether they are cricketers, swimmers or tennis players.

Cricket in particular enjoys tremendous following in Australia as it does in India. It has a far wider base of support down under than in England.

Nine out of ten Aussies are as much proud of their cricketing heroes as they are of their country. Unlike in many other countries, the Aussie supporters never let their stars down.

More than in any other discipline, it is in cricket that the Australians express themselves best. There is always so much at stake when they represent their country.

Cricket is not just a matter of winning or losing for them. It is much more than that. It involves the very identity of Australia as a nation.

Hence it is not surprising if the Australian cricketers appear to symbolise war-like nationalism.

The Australians have always distinguished themselves in a highly competitive world of cricket, not only today.

The rich tradition and high standard that were set from the beginning itself have usually been maintained by generations of Australian cricketers.

There is such a healthy atmosphere for cricket down under that it would have been a huge surprise if Bradman had not been an Australian!

Bradman may have given a new image, a new identity to his country but in all fairness it must be said there has never been too much of a decline in the overall standard of Australian cricket, neither before him nor after him.

Even in the disturbing 1980s, when Australia had been going through one of its worst cricket crises ever, the flashes of brilliance were always there thanks to some talented players.

Australia has never been short of cricketing icons, for the game has come across so many outstanding men from this particular nation.

When a country has more than enough role-models, it is bound to produce, and inspire, many more players with oodles of talents. Many of cricket's outstanding practitioners in different disciplines have come from down under.

If you talk of batsmen, you have Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Bradman, Stan McCabe, Neil Harvey, Normon O'Neill, Bob Cowper, Bob Simpson, Doug Walters, Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Kim Hughes, Dean Jones, Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor, to name a few. In fact, Test cricket's first centurion was also an Aussie - Charles Bannerman.

As for fast bowlers, you have Frederick ``The Demon'' Spofforth, Jack Gregory, Ted McDonald, Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Alan Davidson, Graham McKenzie, Dennis Lillee, Bob Massie, Jeff Thomson, Max Walker, Gary Gilmour, Rodney Hogg, Geoff Lawson, Len Pascoe, Carl Rackemann, Bruce Reid, Craig McDermott, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee.

Talking about spinners, names like Arthur Mailey, Clarrie Grimmett, Bill O'Reilly, Ernie Toshak, Ian Johnson, Richie Benaud, John Gleeson, Ashley Mallett, Jim Higgs, Ray Bright, Greg Matthews, Tim May, Stuart McGill and, of course, Shane Warne quickly come to mind.

The number of world-class spinners from Australia may be small but certainly not their achievements.

Australia has had a fair share of good to great wicketkeepers as well. Bert Oldfield, Don Tallon, Gil Langley, Wally Grout, Brian Taber, Barry Jarman, Rod Marsh, Steve Rixon, Kevin Wright, Tim Zoehrer, Wayne Phillips, Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist have had a major role to play in the success of Australian fast bowlers as well as spinners.

For good measure some of these keepers have been competent batsmen also.

By the same token Australia has given not only some very fine allrounders (Miller and Benaud, for instance) but highly successful captains as well.

Bill Woodfull, Bradman, Benaud, Bill Lawry, Simpson, the Chappell brothers, Border, Taylor and Steve Waugh have left a lasting impression with their intelligent, imaginative and astute leadership. They were masters of skillful manoeuvrings.

One of the reasons why the Australians have been such a successful side over the years is that they play their cricket the hard way.

As far as cricket and its practitioners are concerned, the term `gentleman' is bandied about like a shuttlecock by the hypocritical English.

But the Aussies do not give undue importance to it. They have their own ideas and ideologies.

The Aussies seem to believe that everything is fair in the name of national cause and interest.

They may appear to be the gentlest of the lot off the field but the moment they are out in the middle with their baggy green caps their whole attitude changes instantly, even dramatically.

They try their best, and often worst, to bring as many laurels as they can for their beloved country.

Sledging was said to have been started by an Australian in order to gain some psychological advantage over his opponent.

The effect was unbelievable that many more Aussies were tempted to try the same method.

Successive generations of Australian cricketers have shown a special interest in sledging. Even captains would support the excessive use of sledging.

Ian Chappell encouraged it. Mark Taylor did the same. And Steve Waugh too.

The current Australian skipper, regardless of his off-the-field image of a nice guy, has in fact perfected the art of sledging and how to judiciously employ it to his own advantage. If you can win matches by fair means, fine.

But if you cannot, there is no harm in using foul means. This has been Australia's philosophy in cricket.

Not surprisingly, many of them have been labelled as ``Ugly Aussies''. So much so that the joke doing rounds in cricketing circles, particularly in England, is that Satan must have be an Australian! But, to tell the truth, even without taking recourse to sledging the Aussies have won matches sensationally against the toughest of opponents. For they possess many virtues which other teams distinctly lack.

Their commitment to the team is almost second to none. So much that they are prepared to do ``anything'' for the sake of Australia; even if it means involving in some sort of gamesmanship.

They do not encourage `walking' down under. `Walker' is considered a fool by many in Australia. Their reasoning is simple: you must stay at the wicket and try to make as many runs as you can for your team.

You may be showing sportsmanship by `walking' before the umpire raises his index finger but you may be doing a disservice to your side is the Australian line of thinking.

When you are committed to your team, you do not enjoy such luxury. In other words, you cannot even think of being selfish, as the Aussies love to say. In Australian cricket, commitment has to be in toto and not in parts.

Individual achievements have no place in the outlook of Australian cricketers. The team is everything. It is this kind of approach which builds team-spirit.

And when it comes to team-spirit, which other side can match Australia? There are no grudges, no groupism. Everybody is playing for a common cause. It is thinking like this which breeds virtues and removes vices from the players in a team sport like cricket.

Fighting ability is another plus point of the Aussies. Many of them have been tough cookies who believe in fighting tooth and nail.

Even in the most trying of circumstances they do not lose heart and keep fighting with a positive frame of mind. Remember how Steve Waugh and his warriors came out with flying colours from the nearly-lost semifinal against South Africa in the last World Cup in England?

Like their illustrious predecessors, Steve Waugh and his boys are also oozing away fiery self-confidence, robust optimism and burning desire to prove themselves.

But that is not all. The present Australian side is a cut above the rest when it comes to perfect man management, team management and thorough professionalism.

Considering all this, India's recent Test series win against them looks like a miracle of sorts.

Steve Waugh has at his command some of the most potent weapons any cricket captain can dream of. He enjoys an array of seasoned batsmen in Michael Slater, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh and Justin Langer; not forgetting Gilchrist who is arguably the world's best wicketkeeper as well.

Above all, Steve Waugh himself is there to strengthen the batting with his growing stature with the willow.

And he enjoys a formidable attack - spearheaded by McGrath, Gillespie, Lee and Warne - any batsman would not want to face.

As if that were not enough, Australia has some reserve players who are said to be one- day specialists.

When you have such a reservoir of talented players to choose from, you are bound to dominate world cricket.

It may appear seemingly easy to lead the world's best side. But it is not so. It calls for very special skills to sustain the purple patch, to maintain the winning streak, to hold the players together and to get the best out of them with a high degree of regularity.

Steve Waugh has all the right credentials and many more besides to be at the helm of such an exciting unit.

He has always led from the front. He is modest in victory and gracious in defeat. He is not like those captains who try to find excuses when their teams come a cropper.

His own batting has blossomed under the weight of captaincy. Importantly, he has seen to it that the virus of complacency, which has spread in many players from the subcontinent, does not make its way into the Australian dressing room.

Some credit should also go to the Australian Cricket Board for providing encouragement to the players.

But then this is what usually happens when you perform consistently well and bring one success after another for your country. They are not only the best-treated but also the best- paid.

HARESH PANDYA

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