- May 5, 2016
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Long Post Alert - not really sure it even has a point other than just musing, but maybe along the lines that we make more of things because we are engrossed in the drama that’s around them….
Read an interesting story from Sid Monga in Cricinfo today about the India Australia rivalry over the past 25 years which was a good read but left me wondering whether SA’s contribution, as it tends to do as one of the non-power nations tends to get overlooked from the last 20 years of test cricket.
The general gist of the article DID actually acknowledge SA’s role in their rivalry with Australia which produced some excellent cricket and which took the balance of power as far as test sides go, but basically said that the most compelling rivalry belonged to India and Australia.
Caveat: I like SA whereas I’m vocal in saying I don’t like either Australia or India as teams so I Am biased so that needs to be said.
My personal view is that the most heated rivalry in cricket - of existent ones anyway because let’s be honest, India and Pakistan’s rivalry doesn’t exist - is Australia and India. That in itself gives it a compelling quality from the get go. And as Monga observes, the polar opposite conditions that the two countries play in automatically mean that wherever the teams play, one side is pushing shit uphill.
But has the actual quality of the cricket matched the intensity of the rivalry?
There HAS been some amazing moments but there’s also been some underwhelming ones. 99-00 in Australia was a non event. 01 India was obviously the peak in many ways as Australia’s team was among the best ever assembled, Gilchrist and Hayden played incredible knocks in the first test, and India produced that freak comeback on the back of Laxman and Dravid and Harbhajan in the second, and Tendulkar and Harbhajan got them going in the third. Fair play.
India did well to earn a draw here in 03-04 but it was an underwhelming series in some ways, no Warne and McGrath, bat dominated ball, Dravid played a brilliant test in Adelaide, Ganguly played a great innings in Brisbane, I can’t remember who dominated for Australia in Melbourne - Sehwag hit 195 - and then Tendulkar made a thousand in what was actually a pretty boring innings in Sydney. Laxman made a hundred too.
Australia went to India and finally won on the back of its quicks doing an incredible job as a group, Damien Martyn delivering some of the most underappreciated knocks in modern Australian history, and Michael Clarke playing a brilliant innings.
And to me, that’s kind of where things peaked in some regards.
There’s been definitely moments since but not definitive ones:
The obvious counter is that India has won two series here, which is fair enough. Bouncing back from the Adelaide debacle which in itself was memorable. But the win in Melbourne was a bit meh…. Rahane played a decent innings albeit not that memorable. The draw in Sydney was decent enough but seems to have grown in stature as time has gone on. Brisbane was obviously a remarkable finish.
Pujara I would say did produce some epics in the win before it.
During the years prior to the last SA tour where they were just non competitive, I would counter that the general standard of cricket was higher and if you take away the veneer of rivalry, more memorable.
Johnson delivered two of the most hostile spells in memory in Perth (8-60 or whatever it was) and then his 12 for the game at centurion against some of the greatest players of pace bowling in modern cricket.
To counter that, Dale Steyn played perhaps the best test match by a visiting specialist bowler in Australia this century when he took 5 in each innings in Melbourne, and made 70 with his team in strife to secure SA’s first ever series win here. Oh, and at the other end JP Duminy hit 150 in his second test alongside him.
SA chased down 418 in Perth with Smith and De Villiers making centuries AFTER that Johnson onslaught.
Graeme Smith comes out to bat in Sydney with the busted hand.
Australia goes back over to SA stunned having finally lost at home after 16 years - Johnson clobbers 96 not out, Marcus North makes a century on debut to win the first test and then Phillip Hughes makes back to back hundreds in his second match against the best attack in the world on their home deck as Australia immediately returns the favour.
A couple of years on and Australia goes to Capetown, makes what looks like a competitive 284 on a greenish wicket and then rolls SA for under 100.
Vernon Philander destroys Australia who are 9-21 before Nathan Lyon ‘bails them out of trouble’ to post 47 and SA win by 8 wickets in a canter as Smith and Amla make hundreds like they’re batting in the nets.
Next match Pat Cummins fresh from his primary school graduation not only bowls like the wind but guides his team home chasing 310.
The great moments keep coming between the sides:
Rabada bowls SA to victory on a featherbed in Perth
Kallis bats SA to safety in Brisbane
De Villiers and Du Plessis famously hold on in Adelaide
Philander and Abbot roll through Australia in Hobart while de Kock bats like it’s a t20 game
Clarke makes that ridiculous hundred getting peppered by Morkel in SA
And that’s just the period between 2008 and that last SA tour. I didn’t want to address sandpapergate I think it’s better left separate.
You can go back before that for some other extremely high quality cricket as well.
Do we oversell the standard of the BGT or for that matter the Ashes because of the hype and the hatred involved in them?
For me the best cricket I’ve watched consistently has always been Australia-SA
Read an interesting story from Sid Monga in Cricinfo today about the India Australia rivalry over the past 25 years which was a good read but left me wondering whether SA’s contribution, as it tends to do as one of the non-power nations tends to get overlooked from the last 20 years of test cricket.
The general gist of the article DID actually acknowledge SA’s role in their rivalry with Australia which produced some excellent cricket and which took the balance of power as far as test sides go, but basically said that the most compelling rivalry belonged to India and Australia.
Caveat: I like SA whereas I’m vocal in saying I don’t like either Australia or India as teams so I Am biased so that needs to be said.
My personal view is that the most heated rivalry in cricket - of existent ones anyway because let’s be honest, India and Pakistan’s rivalry doesn’t exist - is Australia and India. That in itself gives it a compelling quality from the get go. And as Monga observes, the polar opposite conditions that the two countries play in automatically mean that wherever the teams play, one side is pushing shit uphill.
But has the actual quality of the cricket matched the intensity of the rivalry?
There HAS been some amazing moments but there’s also been some underwhelming ones. 99-00 in Australia was a non event. 01 India was obviously the peak in many ways as Australia’s team was among the best ever assembled, Gilchrist and Hayden played incredible knocks in the first test, and India produced that freak comeback on the back of Laxman and Dravid and Harbhajan in the second, and Tendulkar and Harbhajan got them going in the third. Fair play.
India did well to earn a draw here in 03-04 but it was an underwhelming series in some ways, no Warne and McGrath, bat dominated ball, Dravid played a brilliant test in Adelaide, Ganguly played a great innings in Brisbane, I can’t remember who dominated for Australia in Melbourne - Sehwag hit 195 - and then Tendulkar made a thousand in what was actually a pretty boring innings in Sydney. Laxman made a hundred too.
Australia went to India and finally won on the back of its quicks doing an incredible job as a group, Damien Martyn delivering some of the most underappreciated knocks in modern Australian history, and Michael Clarke playing a brilliant innings.
And to me, that’s kind of where things peaked in some regards.
There’s been definitely moments since but not definitive ones:
- Kohli hitting four centuries in a series was amazing. But they were soundly beaten that tour.
- his other centuries in Australia also came to nothing.
- smith has played a couple of gems in India. They haven’t led to any series wins in India and by and large the series’ in India since Australia won have veered from some run fests to a couple of lotteries where the overall quality was pretty poor and gave mediocre bowlers an easy ride. Some of the home batsmen who made runs were pretty ordinary at times while the likes of O’Keefe you would have to wonder at whether they would take wickets in any other scenario than the ones in which they did.
The obvious counter is that India has won two series here, which is fair enough. Bouncing back from the Adelaide debacle which in itself was memorable. But the win in Melbourne was a bit meh…. Rahane played a decent innings albeit not that memorable. The draw in Sydney was decent enough but seems to have grown in stature as time has gone on. Brisbane was obviously a remarkable finish.
Pujara I would say did produce some epics in the win before it.
During the years prior to the last SA tour where they were just non competitive, I would counter that the general standard of cricket was higher and if you take away the veneer of rivalry, more memorable.
Johnson delivered two of the most hostile spells in memory in Perth (8-60 or whatever it was) and then his 12 for the game at centurion against some of the greatest players of pace bowling in modern cricket.
To counter that, Dale Steyn played perhaps the best test match by a visiting specialist bowler in Australia this century when he took 5 in each innings in Melbourne, and made 70 with his team in strife to secure SA’s first ever series win here. Oh, and at the other end JP Duminy hit 150 in his second test alongside him.
SA chased down 418 in Perth with Smith and De Villiers making centuries AFTER that Johnson onslaught.
Graeme Smith comes out to bat in Sydney with the busted hand.
Australia goes back over to SA stunned having finally lost at home after 16 years - Johnson clobbers 96 not out, Marcus North makes a century on debut to win the first test and then Phillip Hughes makes back to back hundreds in his second match against the best attack in the world on their home deck as Australia immediately returns the favour.
A couple of years on and Australia goes to Capetown, makes what looks like a competitive 284 on a greenish wicket and then rolls SA for under 100.
Vernon Philander destroys Australia who are 9-21 before Nathan Lyon ‘bails them out of trouble’ to post 47 and SA win by 8 wickets in a canter as Smith and Amla make hundreds like they’re batting in the nets.
Next match Pat Cummins fresh from his primary school graduation not only bowls like the wind but guides his team home chasing 310.
The great moments keep coming between the sides:
Rabada bowls SA to victory on a featherbed in Perth
Kallis bats SA to safety in Brisbane
De Villiers and Du Plessis famously hold on in Adelaide
Philander and Abbot roll through Australia in Hobart while de Kock bats like it’s a t20 game
Clarke makes that ridiculous hundred getting peppered by Morkel in SA
And that’s just the period between 2008 and that last SA tour. I didn’t want to address sandpapergate I think it’s better left separate.
You can go back before that for some other extremely high quality cricket as well.
Do we oversell the standard of the BGT or for that matter the Ashes because of the hype and the hatred involved in them?
For me the best cricket I’ve watched consistently has always been Australia-SA
