February 1, 2004

WITH its recent Test series victory against West Indies, South Africa has surely taken a step closer to threatening Australia at the top of the ladder as the World Test Champions. The way things have gone in world cricket over the last few months, not many would be surprised if South Africa does overthrow Australia somewhere the down the line.

The two teams had conflicting fortunes in their recent encounters, and, since both were playing on their own respective home turfs, I find it fair to draw certain conclusions. Also, they were both playing against opponents that were weaker than them on paper before the start of the two series.

West Indies has had its problems in the last several years and even though it has somewhat recovered from the sordid depths it had touched earlier, it still has to do a lot to be counted among the front-rankers. Its last series against South Africa on the latter’s home grounds had also not gone too well, and all this meant the West Indians started the tour as the underdogs.

Not much different was the case of the Indians who are known as the world’s worst tourists after having failed to clinch a series outside the sanctuary of their home grounds. When they landed in Australia, all the focus was on their prospective margin of loss. Just as the West Indians did in South Africa, the Indians also started off as the underdogs in Australia.

So, basically, in the context of this comparison, Australia and South Africa were on familiar turfs and were facing weaker opponents. At the end of the two series, however, the reputation of the two teams have undergone radical transformation.

The margin and manner of the victory against the West Indians have confirmed the rehabilitation of South Africa as a potential candidate for the title of World Test Champions. On the other hand, a 1-1 draw by Australia in a series during most part of which it found itself on the back foot, has done little good to the reputation of the mighty Australians. Indeed, it took some heroics on their part to salvage a draw, and that says a lot about the stock of the Indian team that went high at the end of the series.

People may argue that regulars like Glen McGrath and Shane Warne were not there in the Australian lineup, and that even Jason Gillespie and Bret Lee had to miss out on occasions, and had they been there, the Australians would have been a different side altogether. Fair enough. That might have been the case, but it was not, and therein lies a pointer to what we may expect in the future. The Australians are an aging side, with the majority of those who made it an almost invincible unit in the last few years either having already called it a day, or are playing in their 30s. This naturally means that there will be more injuries, more replacements and more retirements in the Australian camp than what one may expect in the South African lineup, which, at least at the moment, is a relatively judicious mix of youth and experience.

The problem with Australia is that the newcomers who have been thrown in over the last couple of years have not shown as much promise as one would have liked keeping view the fact that the country has an enviable cricketing network that is professional down to the core and reaches the grassroots level. Since the arrival of Bret lee on the scene, the only other lad who has impressed people with his performance is Simon Katich. The rest, like Martin Love, Brad Williams and others, have at best been average. The case of South Africa is much different, with a captain who is himself in his early twenties!

While the road ahead for the South Africans is not an easy one, as the Australians will do everything to fight off he tide, there is no denying the fact that there are several factors in their favour and they have time on their side.

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