Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Are Warne's words justified?

Well the latest from the world of cricket is that the Australian retired spin wizard - Shane Warne has not only complimented the England team that a couple of days back lifted their maiden international trophy when they won the third edition of the world T20 in the Caribbean, but in addition also gave them an undeserving applause by saying that England are not scared of playing Australia. The point is, who on earth is scared of playing any team when the least happens is that they may lose the game or the series or whatever but still go back alive saying "better luck next time"?

Anyways with that being a different issue here, the point here is whether Shane Warne's words are completely justified? Shane Warne is believed to have made the statement after England's victory over Australia in the finals of the T20 world cup and also taking into consideration the 2-1 victory over Australia in the Ashes last year. Is that completely enough to justify Shane Warne's words? Likewise, another retired Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath had predicted a 5-0 whitewash for Australia in the last Ashes played in England. But, forget about whitewashing, Austraia couldn't even win or defend the title they had won two years ago.

Australia generously gifted England the series, first when they drew the first Ashes test which they should have won after having a major lead in the first innings and then by losing two out of the 3 matches that were played after Australia won the second. However, coming back to Shane Warne's words, if England's world cup victory is given a close look at, no doubt, England did deserve to win the title, but winning a test series against Australia and that too on its home ground needs some special consideration. With the shortest format of the game still being a fluke, the results can go either way.

I don't have the patience to go back to cricinfo and search for the last time when England held the Ashes in Australia. I remember a series of 4-1 loss in the Ashes by England when Steve Waugh was the captain, with the latest one being in 2002-03 played in Australia. Australia have always been a predictable team for the right reasons with most of the time being victorious while England on the other hand having a 2005/2009 Ashes sort of thing or a world T20 2010 thing once in a lifetime. The only team that England can beat is the West Indies in today's cricket and they still need not fear Australia or any other team whatsoever.

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