Fall of Australian Reign in Cricket

Having been at the top position in the ICC International Cricket rankings for past several years, Australia is experiencing a downfall in its level of cricket. As published in Times of India, it has slumped to 5th position recently after reigning at the number 1 position for almost a period of 4 years. Australia's recent defeat at the hands of India cost Australia 20 points making it fell by 4 places down in the rankings.

This downfall of the Australian Cricket at International level could be attributed to several major reasons which may have contributed equally. Retirements from the game of cricket by legendary Australian players like Shane Warne and McGrath has weakened the Australian bowling attack sharply. The team definitely misses experience of the 2 great bowlers who played a very vital role in holding Australia at the top most position. Some believe that Australian players have been involved in far too many controversies recently which suggest the lack of concentration on the game by players. Australian cricketers are more interested in winning the matches by foul play and using abusive language on field instead of playing and winning on their capability. Evident from the recent stats released by ICC on September 17th 2009, Australian team captain, Ricky Ponting, has failed to lead from the front for the team in this crisis situation as his average over last 5 series is of mere 21. None of their top order batsmen averages more than 30 over last 7 series which does not give enough total to the team to defend and that too in the absence of any sharp pace bowler. This hampers the winning chances of team as they tend to feel morally down even before they start defending their score.

Whatever people may say and write about the cricket team of Australia but the fact remains that they have been the champions for past 4 years so they definitely have the material in them. Everyone has bad patches but the true champions know how to overcome their times and again rise to the top. So for all the Australian cricket fans, hope has still not died as they expect their champions to perform exceedingly well again and regain their top slot soon by performing well in the upcoming Champions trophy scheduled for October this year.

Source: http://cricket-matches.blogspot.com/2009/01/icc-cricket-teams-rankings-and-ratings.html