With the arrival of summer
By The Sportzologist
With the arrival of summer, the sound of leather on willow can be heard echoing across the grassy playing fields of the nation. Or is that willow on leather?
Either way, since 1970 I’ve followed the fortunes of the Australian cricket team, starting with the birth of the Ian Chappell era, when the incumbent captain William Morris Lawry was unceremoniously informed of his dumping not by the selectors, but, by a radio broadcast.
Since the very first Test match way back in 1877, Australia’s traditional rivals have been the mother country England, however, in recent times the battles with the cricketing superpower of India have grabbed fans and the media’s attention.
The Indians first toured this country in the summer of 1947-48 with Bradman, starved of cricket because of WWII, mauling them for 715 runs and Australia victorious 4-0 in the five Test match series.
India toured Australia another ten times without success, before they finally broke through with a 2-1 series win in the summer of 2018-19.
That series was also the first time Test cricket was played at the newly built Perth Stadium, a modern multipurpose arena that replaced the old WACA ground and the venue for the first Test of this much anticipated 2024-25 series.
Although Australia convincingly defeated India in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) at The Oval last year, our top order batting going into this opening match appears as underdone as a blue steak on the backyard barbecue.
Nathan McSweeney, with his solid technique and temperament, is a commendable choice at opener to replace the recently retired David Warner, however, apart from him and wicketkeeper Alex Carey, no other batter in the top seven has scored any decent runs in the Sheffield Shield.
With no real batting form to mention and given the right conditions, a bowler of the class of India’s Jasprit Bumrah, might just run through our shaky batting lineup faster than a spicy hot Indian curry.
Also of concern, is the fact this is one of the oldest Australian sides in recent times with the 25-year-old debutant McSweeney, the only player under thirty years of age.
On the back of a Black Cap whitewash at home, India have their own issues going through a team rebuild while carrying the waning form of Virat Kohli, however, their rising superstar Yashasvi Jaiswal should enjoy the pace and bounce of Australian pitches and get amongst the runs.
At home India’s two premier spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, thrive on their turning tracks, but, they won’t receive the same assistance from our Australian wickets where, over the five days of a Test match, there should be no significant deterioration.
The home ground advantage should mean something, so I’m tipping an Australian series win, however, I do miss the days of the Chappell era and Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket (WSC) from my youth.
Packer and WSC revolutionised the game with cricket under lights, drop in pitches, coloured outfits and the catchy sounds of “C’mon Aussie C’mon” emanating out of our television sets as we waited with great anticipation for the score to reach 2-222, just so we could hear Richie Benaud repeat it on air.
As much as Richie is sadly missed as a commentator, we still have Kerry O’Keeffe, don’t we?
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