Australia Lose the Plot

By Gulu Ezekiel

Australians just do not seem to grasp the idea of 20/20 cricket—at least when they are representing their country at the international level.
In the 2007 they somehow limped to the World Cup semifinals where they were trounced by India. This despite losing two of their earlier games, including to Zimbabwe.
This time they have failed to progress to the second stage from admittedly the ‘group of death’, losing both to the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Ironically it has been the Australians who dominated both season I and II of the IPL.
In 2008 it was Shane Warne who led unfancied Rajasthan Royals to victory while Adam Gilchrist followed up with the equally unfancied Deccan Chargers this year.
In 2008 it was all-rounder Shane Watson who emerged as the Most Valuable Player while Gilchrist picked up the award last month. And while Shaun Marsh was the highest run scorer in 2008, Matthew Hayden finished on top in 2009.
Australia must surely have missed the dynamic skills of Andrew Symonds who was sent packing for hitting the bottle once too often. Also, it could well be that captain Ricky Ponting was too focused on the more prestigious Ashes series ahead.
In fact it is this habit of not quite taking the newest format of the game too seriously that appears to hamper the Aussies.
This is certainly not the case with the IPL where the huge monetary rewards on offer apparently bring out the best in many players.
Australia are unique in that they were one of the two nations in the very first Test match (against England at Melbourne in 1877), the first ODI (also against England at Melbourne in 1971) and the first T-20 International, against New Zealand at Auckland in 2005.
That first match was treated as a bit of joke by both sides. But with 20/20 now overtaking 50-overs ODIs in terms of popularity, it is time perhaps for the ODI and Test world champions to give it a fresh look.