‘Greatest ever’: Australia ‘complete Test cricket’, spark GOAT debate
Australia’s victory in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy under Pat Cummins begs a question many old school cricket fans won’t want to hear.
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When sportspeople are asked to rank a particular performance or achievement among their career highlights, it’s become a cliche for them to simply say “right up there”.
If you ask most fans and former players how this current Australian cricket team compares to other great teams, you’ll probably get the same answer.
By winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in his career, Pat Cummins has now held every major trophy on offer in cricket.
The victory also means Australia have “completed” Test cricket by winning every bilateral series against all Test playing nations.
Cummins’ legacy is quickly becoming a guy who just wins things for fun.
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Losing three consecutive home series to India would have been a brutal blow for the legacy of Cummins and his team. But after a stirring win in the Boxing Day Test and a three-day thriller at the SCG, Australia now hold the ‘BGT’ for the first time since 2014-15.
So just how good is this Australian Test team?
They haven’t lost an Ashes series since 2015 — winning or retaining the Urn in the past four series against England. The Poms haven’t won a single Test match Down Under since 2011.
In recent years Australia have won the 2021 T20 World Cup, the 2023 ODI World Cup, the World Test Championship in 2023 and have held the Ashes for nearly a decade.
That ODI World Cup win will most likely go down as the most memorable win of Cummins’ tenure, given it was against an undefeated Indian team in front of 100,000 Indian fans.
Mark Waugh told news.com.au: “I think they stack up very, very highly - this group of players. Individually, there’s some fantastic players there.
“I think Steve Smith is going to stack up as one of our great batsmen, definitely. His record speaks for itself. David Warner’s just retired. Then you’ve got world class players like (Usman) Khawaja and Travis Head.
“The bowling side of it, I think the group of bowlers is as good as we’ve ever produced. The three big fast bowlers —Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins — Nathan Lyon’s record is phenomenal. I think they stack up very, very favourably.”
But despite all those recent triumphs, this team hasn’t won an Ashes series in England or defeated India in India.
That’s something the Australian team from the golden era of the early 2000s managed to do, winning in England in 2001 before conquering the ‘final frontier’ of India in 2004.
Australia retained but didn’t secure outright victory in the 2019 and 2023 Ashes series in England.
Waugh said before this summer’s series against India: “I guess the one area they’ve let themselves down is (not) beating India in the last four series. That’s probably one area where they would like to improve.
“And drawing the Ashes series last year. They retained the Ashes but probably the really great Australian teams would have won that Ashes series.
“There’s a couple of big moments they haven’t nailed, and they’d be the first to admit that, but I think generally speaking any of the players would hold their own in any great Australian team of the past.”
That all conquering team captained by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting is universally seen as the greatest Australian team ever.
The late 90s early-2000s golden era featured the likes of Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, the Waugh brothers, Michael Clarke, Damien Martyn, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne.
Such was their dominance, Australia was chosen to play against a World XI in an ICC Super Series consisting of one Test match and three One Day Internationals in 2005.
Fresh off the disappointment of losing the 2005 Ashes in England, the Aussies won all four games against the World All Stars team featuring names like Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Kevin Pietersen, Shoaib Aktar and Muttiah Muralitharian.
Twenty years on, it’s hard to imagine that type of series being repeated.
Mike Hussey recalled to news.com.au: “I only played in the One Day series, I didn’t play in the Super Test at the SCG. I remember it was a lot of fun.
“It was a bit of a funny one because you’re playing against the best players in the world but it was hard for them because they obviously hadn’t played together. They didn’t have any kind of team cohesion.
“We were a pretty hungry team, coming off losing the Ashes in England so there was a bit of negativity around the team. The boys were really motivated and up for it.
“I really enjoyed it. I think those international players enjoyed coming to Australia and spending some time together as well. It was a nice concept, I can’t believe it’s 20 years ago.”
Ashes to decide legacy of Aussies, Bazball
Next summer’s Ashes is set up to be the best on Australian soil in some time.
Joe Root is in imperious form and will be desperate to silence his doubters by scoring a century in Australia for the first time.
Harry Brook and Ben Duckett are fast scoring game breakers and a faster, younger bowling attack could be the recipe to beating Australia.
If Australia wins the World Test Championship final again and can beat England next summer, Cummins will go down as one of Australia’s greatest ever skippers.
While Mark Taylor and Michael Clarke are viewed as Australia’s most tactically shrewd captains in recent decades, Cummins is putting together a CV to rival Ponting and Waugh.
He has now won 20 Test matches as captain. Only Waugh and Ponting have a better winning percentage as captain.
The fast bowler put his injury woes behind him long ago and has been a model of consistency, playing every game of gruelling home summers.
The 300-wicket milestone is around the corner and if he stays healthy, there’s no reason why Cummins can’t finish his Test career with more than 400 wickets, joining an exclusive club of pace bowlers to achieve that feat.
Mitchell Starc is also on track for all-time great status. Starc turns 35 later this month but there’s no sign of him slowing down.
The left armer’s durability has been underrated in recent years and he is set to join Glenn McGrath as just the second Australian fast bowler to play 100 Tests.
While most of Australia’s best fast bowlers (Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Mitchell Johnson, Craig McDermott) finish with around 300 wickets from 70 Tests, Starc has belied that trend to be in sight of 400 Test scalps.
“He will go down as one of Australia’s greatest bowlers ever in all formats,” Lee told news.com.au.
“That can be said about all three of the quicks. Pat Cummins is a superstar, Hazlewood is unbelievable. I think they enhance each other’s performances as well.
“In terms of Mitchell Starc, it’s not often you see a left armer who’s tall, lean, beautiful approach to the crease and he can shape the ball back in so late.
“I think of the first ball of the Test series against England at the Gabba, I think about (Brendon) McCullum at the (2015 ODI) World Cup - swung it back. They are balls where people go ‘oh that was a fluke or it just happens’.
“He practices that ball day in day out. Under pressure he can execute. He’s now approaching 400 wickets, amazing. Incredible.”
By point of comparison to previous eras — Usman Khawaja has more centuries than Martyn, Nathan Lyon will have more wickets than McGrath by the time he’s retired, Steve Smith is inching closer to Ponting’s record of 41 centuries.
The experience of Australia’s players is an advantage for this version of the team that plays high percentage cricket.
But at times, the team of 30-somethings can look a bit creaky and vulnerable. Remember the first Test in Perth when Jasprit Bumrah ripped through the top order?
Cameron Green, Nathan McSweeney and Sam Konstas should balance out the age demographic in the coming years.
The legacies of Cummins’ Australian and England’s Bazball methods will be decided by next summer’s Ashes, with their contrasting styles setting both teams on a collision course.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan told news.com.au: “It’s judgement time for the Bazball method over the next 12 months for Ben Stokes and Baz McCullum. Does this risky style of play, entertaining brand of cricket, was it all worth it to win big series?
“The risky method of play won’t win in Australia. They’ll have to find a different gear, particularly with the bat against this quality.
“They’ll have to hope that Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Oli Stone, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Matt Potts...if they’re all fit England will have a chance because they’ll be able to bowl Australia out.
“Can the batting unit bat sensibly enough at times to get a decent score and not throw their wickets away when they’re on top in a game like in the last Ashes series in the first few Test matches. If they can do that they’re a chance, but it’s a tall order because winning here in Australia is not easy.”
Australia will play two Tests against Sri Lanka starting later this month and take on South Africa in the World Test Championship Final in June. Then it’s the Ashes, where Cummins and Ben Stokes will lay it all on the line.
Originally published as ‘Greatest ever’: Australia ‘complete Test cricket’, spark GOAT debate
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