Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Australia



All right, the Super 8 league starts on 27th March with hosts WI taking on Champions Australia.

A preview of any match involving Australia will always have one question: Does the other team have any chance of beating the Aussies?

Aussies are the eternal favourites for last decade or so and are dominating the game as much as the hosts did in 1970's. While the former have a formidable and awe-inspiring batting attack, the latter had a fearsome bowling attack back then.

The questions that trouble all the coaches worldwide must be :

  • What is it with the Aussies that keeps them ticking without any visible end in sight?
  • Why do we always see Aussies winning and winning and winning despite 1-2 losses mid way?
  • Why does their confidence never go below the danger mark?
  • What do they do so differently?
Sometimes I wish I could just go and sit in their locker room, quietly in a corner, just before a match, and listen to what inspires them most!

I had the fortune of attending a speech of John Buchanan one day and he simply had one answer - talent (skill) +hard work+discipline+self-belief!

"What!!! No magic? No no Sir, there must be some hidden formula that you use for these Gauls, you must tell us, you Getafix!" I remember saying to myself!

Just a simple formula to listen to / read. But I guess an extremely difficult one to implement!!!

One of the many answers to these questions, I have come to believe, is that the Australians know the tact of playing fearlessly. They do not know fear. No fear of being hit, no fear of being bowled a bouncer, no fear of physical hurt and most importantly, no fear of failure!

These guys are simply not afraid of anything! To make matters worse, their confidence in the field has touched the sky and so has their arrogance and cockiness - and still they get away with it!!! The reason is, well, they perform on the field!

They BELIEVE that they are the best, and despite losing to SA after making 434, their belief and confidence has not been dented by an inch!

Just when I had hopes of seeing Aussies as human as other teams just after Steve Waugh retired, the 'bad boy' of cricket has taken them one notch up!

Thank you Australia, for giving us the cricket that fans deserve to watch! Thank you!
(Image Source: Google Images)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You write very well.