-Australia press turn on own team
Australia’s cricket press has swung full circle within a week.
After suggesting that the series “should be cancelled and all tickets refunded” and describing West Indies Test cricket as “a complete and utter joke” following their defeat by an innings in three days in the first Test, several writers yesterday questioned the home team’s status following their hard-fought draw in second Test in Adelaide. Their comments were counterbalanced by general praise for the West Indies. Peter Roebuck, in the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote that Chris Gayle and his team can take “considerable pride from their performance”, calling it “an impressive effort from a beleaguered visiting team playing not only for its reputation but its existence.”
Andrew Faulkner detected one reason for the West Indies’ revival. “For all the talk about a lack of pride and lost respect, the tourists have retained their spirit and good humour,” he wrote in The Australian. But it was Australia’s limitations that were mostly spotlighted.
“The West Indies have lobbed a hand grenade at critics and a telling reality check for Australia’s designs on world Test supremacy,” Steve Larkin of the Australian Association Press wrote.
“Australia retained the Frank Worrell Trophy but showed worrying chinks in their armour.”
Chloe Saltau used the same “reality check” phrase in the Melbourne Age. “The cricket world has witnessed a dramatic shift in power, with Australia forced to hang on for a draw against a West Indies team that only a week ago was regarded as a pushover,” she stated.
Ben Dorries, whose take after the first Test result was that the series should be called off, now trained his sights on the Australian team.
“The ruthless streak established by Allan Border and strengthened by Steve Waugh has now evaporated to the point where Australia have won just two of their past eight Tests,” he wrote in the Brisbane Courier-Mail.
“The reality is that Fortress Australia is crumbling and dominance can no longer be taken for granted Down Under, following on from the series loss to South Africa on home soil last summer.”
Malcolm Conn of The Australian, another writer deriding the West Indies after the first Test result, was suddenly concerned about the home team.
“That Australia could not keep its foot on the throat after the domination of Brisbane shows how much more mortal its cricketers are following the retirement of its superheroes,” he noted, a reference to bowlers Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, batsmen Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer and wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist who have departed international cricket in the past two years. (TC).
