A timeline of Australian cricket from 1999 to 2015

Post McGrath-Warne era

McGrath and Warne retired after the 2007 Ashes series which Australia won 5-0

I moved on. I was actually fed up by watching and listening to the success stories of the men in yellow. I skipped another 6 years.

July 14, 2013, Trent Bridge - The final day of the first Ashes test between England and Australia. The visitors were chasing a 2nd innings total of 311 and were reduced to 201-6, thanks to the top class swing bowling of James Anderson. I could see the flurried faces of hundreds of Aussie fans and I didn’t hesitate to ask one among them the reason behind their anxiety.

“Hey, 110 runs with 4 wickets in hand. Australia has faced even tougher challenges in the past and has emerged victorious every single time. Is this gonna be a big deal?”

But he looked at me with tearful eyes. His heart was on his face and I could hear those prayers that he was enchanting in his mind. I realized, Australia isn’t the same as the past. Something has changed.

After McGrath and Warne decided to hang their boots, Australia tried hard to fill the shoes of these unparalleled legends. Brett Lee couldn’t maintain his brisk pace owing to injuries and eventually lost his form due to the lack of support from the other end. Shaun Tait & Nathan Bracken came in, but no one could seal their spot in the playing XI the way McGrath and Warne did.

Eventually, they lost the Ashes and were also unable to defend the World Cup in 2011. Matters went from bad to worse with the retirement of batting legends Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey which culminated in a 4-0 whitewash by India in the Border-Gavaskar series of 2013 held in India.

Most of the Aussies batsmen sweated in the sweltering sub-continent conditions while facing the alien spin of Ravichandran Ashwin and left-arm orthodox bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. Adding to the worries of their fans, Australia eventually lost the Ashes, for the 3rd time in a row.

While their inexperienced batting line-up looked fragile, their bowling lacked penetration in overseas conditions. Mitchell Johnson was fast but wasn’t a match for the pace of Brett Lee. Spinners hadn’t had the dexterity of the great Shane Warne. Australia really missed the precision of McGrath and Gilly’s immaculate wicket-keeping.

The world thought Australian cricket had reached the brink of extermination. But I knew, nothing would stop Michael Clarke from fighting for the pride of his nation.

With his inherent competitiveness and inspirational leadership, Clarke brought things back for Australia. By demolishing England in the next Ashes with his ace in the hole - Johnson’s pace, Australia recorded only the third 5-0 Ashes clean sweep in history. They later thrashed the Proteas at their backyard and eventually regained the No 1 spot in Tests.

Just when Australia was getting back to its old might, Cricket Australia assented to a Test series against Pakistan in the UAE. The series turned out to be an eye-opener for the yellow unit. A team which looked indomitable on fast and bouncy pitches, struggled against the ‘home’ spinners Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah, on the slow turning tracks. Their fast bowling lacked penetration and spinners were unable to exploit the conditions. Pakistan dismantled them, quite effortlessly.

A new epoch

Michael Clarke and Steve Smith – The past and the future of Australian Cricket

Although they lost the series, they found someone who had the ability to take on spin bowling using his feet. It was indeed a miraculous transformation for Steven Smith – someone who stepped into the international scenario as a leg-spinner.

His incredible agility and reflexes coupled with splendid hand-eye-co-ordination has already made him one of the best batsmen of the modern era. His talent was indeed a great discovery as Australia found someone to lead the pack after Clarke. As usual George Bailey was seen smiling realizing the fact that someone else has run away with his bride.

And in 2015, after regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy from India, Australia became the World Champions for the fifth time. When Mitchell Starc destroyed their opponents with his fast and accurate swing bowling, Glenn Maxwell exploded on various occasions to grant their skipper Michael Clarke a fitting farewell from One Day Internationals.

But not even in the wildest of dreams Clarke would have thought that the Ashes 2015 in England would mark the end of his Test career. English pacers exposed the inefficacy of the Australian batsmen to play quality seam bowling in swinging England conditions. Even their best batsman Steve Smith struggled to find the middle of the bat when the ball started to nip around. Australia got humiliated by England, and Alastair Cook had his vengeance by regaining the urn.

Now it’s going to be the beginning of a new epoch.

Smith is all set to carry the legacy of the Australian Cricket. Despite his frailties with the moving kookaburra, he is the future of the island nation. He has a tough job of building and captaining a young and inexperienced team comprising of talented players like Josh Hazlewood, Starc, Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh. I hope he’ll do it as efficiently as his predecessors did and will bring back Australia to its old might.