da pinnacle： Australia’s aura is fading by the day, and they face an uphill battle to avoid a home-series defeat to South Africa
da leao： Brydon Coverdale in Perth21-Dec-2008
The attack that was once the most threatening in the world is now nomore than moderate © PA Photos
The full extent of Australia’s decline over the past year has beenhard to gauge until now. Wins against weak opponents have masked theproblems but a demoralising series-opening loss to South Africa inPerth has brought them crashing down to earth, so much so that RickyPonting doesn’t know if his batsmen or his bowlers are the biggerconcern. It is a most unpleasant position to be in.In the lead-up to the series there were hints that Australia feltvulnerable. Ponting and Tim Nielsen tried to pile the pressure onSouth Africa by raising their poor past history against Australia. Itwasn’t on the level of pre-series bluster that Graeme Smith hadlaunched in 2005-06 but it brought back some of those memories. Smithlater admitted he was trying to deflect attention away from his owndeveloping side and, with such an evolving Australia line-up, it lookedlike Australia had hatched a similar plan this season.It didn’t work then and it hasn’t worked now. The fact is thatAustralia are not the side they were and their No. 1 ranking is more alegacy of their past dominance than a reflection of their currentsituation. They beat New Zealand and West Indies this year but thoseare frail teams and they are currently trying to bore each other intosubmission in Napier. A 2-0 loss in India was more revealing, as wasAustralia’s narrow escape at home against India last summer.The attack that was once the most threatening in the world is now nomore than moderate. Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have been replacedby a succession of bowlers, who have gone through the selectionrevolving door. Currently Jason Krejza and Peter Siddle are beinggiven opportunities and as much as Ponting has insisted the men are upto Test standard, it is unrealistic to expect a pair with a combined39 first-class matches’ experience to be matchwinners.Neither of them took a wicket in the second innings at the WACA, whenAustralia could not defend 414. Siddle alternated between bowling tooshort and too full and South Africa rarely looked worried by him.Krejza was never going to replicate his 12 wickets on debut in Nagpurand while he bowled some potentially wicket-taking balls with bounceand turn, he also sent down some of the longest hops since Qantasstarted its kangaroo route from Sydney to London. It was a jointeffort that has forced Ponting to reassess his opinion of them.”They’re kids really that haven’t got a real solid foundation if youlike of first-class cricket under their belts,” Ponting said. “Somaybe my expectation on those couple has to go down a little bit. Butthey’re out there playing for Australia and I expect them to be ableto do a job.”Ponting readily conceded that Mitchell Johnson was the only man whoreally looked like getting wickets. He picked up 11 for the match butit wasn’t nearly enough. Brett Lee did not bowl badly as such but onestrike for the game was an underwhelming result from the man who issupposed to lead the attack.”His pace and swing probably weren’t there this game but he actuallybowled pretty good areas and kept things as tight as or probablytighter than anyone else in our side right through the game,” Pontingsaid. “But saying that, that’s probably not his role in our teameither and we expect him to have some impact with the new ball andthat wasn’t there in this game.”There are also concerns over the batting. Matthew Hayden’s future isunclear after another failure, Michael Hussey is not in danger butneeds to regain his form and Ponting’s own contributions are becomingless reliable. Several Australian batsmen threw their wickets awaywith streaky shots in Perth, including Andrew Symonds and MichaelClarke in both innings, and it was a trend that left Ponting fuming.They are problems Australia need to solve quickly. Following a return-tour of South Africa, Australia head to England to defend the Ashes.Ponting has lost the urn once and it would be an irredeemable stain onhis legacy if he handed it over again. The immediate job is to comeback from 1-0 down to win a three-Test series. It is somethingAustralia have never achieved in 130 years of Test cricket. For a teamwhose aura is fading by the day, it might just be too great a task.
