Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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Give it a Rest

Australia is going to win the Ashes this year, okay? So all you over-excited pommy journalists and bloggers can just take a deep breath and get over yourselves. No, Australia would not select any of the current Pom players were they available to wear a baggy green. No, not even Andrew Flintoff.

Right now Australia is—by a wide margin—the best in the world, with lots and lots of depth. But it wasn’t always that way. I’m old enough to remember the horror that was the eighties. I remember the glorious West Indies of that period. I confess that back then I barracked for them (come on, people, Michael Holding was so beautiful, er, I mean, such a fabulous bowler) even against Australia, but I have always backed my homeland against every other team in the world. And since the West Indies fell from the heights of heaven (and Michael Holding retired) I’ve only supported the baggy green wearers and I will continue to support them no matter what.

But our supremacy can’t last forever. India, Pakistan, South Africa & England all have much bigger populations to draw from (Australia isn’t much bigger than 20 million). They’ve already, or will in the future, started their own national cricketing academies. They’re already hiring us to coach them. What happened in tennis will happen in cricket. There are fewer Aussies in the top hundred, not because we suddenly suck, but because there are more people in the world playing tennis then ever before. Back in the years of our domination there weren’t any Thai, Japanese, Argentinian, or Indonesian players in the top 100. Now there are.

The only way Australia will stay on top in the long term is if cricket loses popularity in India, Pakistan, South Africa & England, and if that happens you can say goodbye to cricket as a world sport. I want cricket to grow, not stagnate and if it grows the days of Australian supermacy will wain.

In the meantime, we are still the very best in the world and I’m going to enjoy every last second of it. On ya, boys! Thrash those pommy bastards.

Posted by Justine at 20:24, 6 June 2005 under Cricket, Sport | 7 Comments »

Comments

  1. jonathan Says:

    it is going to get very, very ugly, and it’s going to be great to watch. the poms have built themselves up into a completely unrealistic frenzy, but, in about six weeks, i think reality is going to knock firmly on their front door and say ‘ahem’, and they will realise that bangladesh is to england, as england is to australia.

    as someone who remembers all too well the woeful ’80s, the kim hughes-led 5/95 tour of the uk and our destruction at the hands of the windies, this is sweet.

    June 6th, 2005 at 8:32 PM

  2. 2. Justine Says:

    Jeez, Jonathan, that was quick!

    Well, at this stage it’s two decades worth of sweet. Funny how it never gets old watching the poms lose. I am hoping for a drubbing of earth-shattering proportions. But, you know, as long as we win, I’m good.

    June 6th, 2005 at 8:41 PM

  3. jonathan Says:

    hey, i have no life other than to blog :) actually, having just sold anthos 14 through 16, i simply have no life :) . still, it is sweet seeing the poms get knocked about. it’s almost sweeter because they think they have a chance. poor dears.

    June 6th, 2005 at 9:03 PM

  4. 4. Justine Says:

    It is unseemly of us to gloat ahead of time, perhaps we should wait until after we’ve thrashed them? Nah! Let’s have a pre-, during and post- gloat fest!

    Congrats on the antho sales. Though personally I am thinking that you are mad. Anthos are all work and no play. Never again, me.

    June 6th, 2005 at 9:59 PM

  5. jonathan Says:

    thanks for the congrats. the problem in the work/play equation is i don’t write. it’s that simple. doing anthos keeps you involved and sometimes you get to help bring a real gem into the world. now…on to gloating

    June 6th, 2005 at 11:19 PM

  6. Cheryl Says:

    It was, I think, a stroke of genius on the part of the English to give themselves two warm-up games against the hapless Bangladeshis. Now the idiots in the tabloid press are convinced that England can beat anyone inside two days. Somehow I think they are going to find themselves sadly deluded.

    Don’t worry about Aussie dominance though. Large populations are only an advantage if there is no competition from other sports and good local organization. India you should be worried about. England will, I suspect, remain weak because hardly anyone wants to play cricket when they can earn so much more playing soccer. OTOH, if I were you I’d be worried about Twenty20.

    June 7th, 2005 at 10:25 AM

  7. 7. Justine Says:

    What’s your thinking on Twenty20? I like it a lot better than one day cricket.

    To be honest, I’m hoping that all the other cricket playing nations will get much, much better. I love the game of cricket. I want to see her played far and wide and if that means Australia stops being the best–it’s a price I’m prepared to pay.

    I think Twenty20 is our best shot at getting cricket to spread.

    June 8th, 2005 at 3:56 PM

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