The rise and rise of Australian cricket

Aggression has always been Australia’s forte

Sometimes the biggest surprise in life turns out to be the very fact that we tend to treat facts as something within our blood and we tend take them as intangibly non-existent or for that matter impertinent elements of life.

However, the very essence of our lives lies in the underlying truths which extend beyond the prerogatives of humanity. Our only challenge comes in when we try to create a sub-universe within our universe and try to dispatch certain indispensable elements which are embedded with the universe.

The Australian cricket team in this article is like a universe and the other teams lining up for cricket’s Gold fall under the sub-universe category.

Since the first test match was played in 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between Australia and England, the world has been accustomed to watch the game of cricket under the shadows of a brilliantly skillful and dominating Australian cricket team. It’s not so much for the skill as it is for the sporting blood which is inherited in the kangaroo nation.

Like in India, when we are growing up, we are taught the value of family, need for affection, love for others etc., we are able to do that naturally as well as artificially in a much better manner than most of the nations (probably all) around the world. Similarly, in case of Australia, the people from their childhood are taught the value of competition in sport and the value of winning in a different light as a cursory growing requirement in all childhood related elements.

So much so, that these people are even convinced with the fact that the achievements are as tangible as the end result. There are chances that these things come with the roots of a country and Australia typically being an aggressive nation from the roots does say a lot about this belief of the Aussies.

If we look at the history of cricket, the world has learnt to live with strong Australian teams at the fore. There are times when the Aussies go through rebuilding phases and those are times when the sub-universe of cricket capitalizes on the opportunities for this interim period. And those are times when we start presuming eras have begun and there is a new world ruler in place.

But if think on the grounds of reality and really do have a sneak peak, we should be able to realize this for a fact that barring the West Indies domination era of the 1970s-80s, there has been no particular era, and when I say era, it means at least a decade or more, when there has been a country which has outshone its competitors barring eras that have been predominantly Australia. The days of Bradman to Ian Chappell to the days of Alan Border to Steve Waugh to Ricky Ponting, all have their own stories to tell.

I am just 26 years old and I am sure I have forgotten a few pertinent names. While talking the name of Richie Benaud just struck my mind. All I am trying to iterate through this white paper is the fact that Australia’s prowess in cricket is as close to reality as is the actual universe. The rise of the sub-universe with recent examples including India, England, South Africa is an interim adjustment living up to the trend mentioned in the paragraphs above.

Australia’s dominance is one theory which is actually contradicting the concept of hegemony.

With the 5-0 thrashing and the follow up victory in South Africa, it remains to be seen whether Pup’s (Michael Clarke’s) men are able to live by the universal standard.