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News India Live, Digital Desk: The Australian cricket team may be the champion of the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup at present, but a crisis is brewing behind the scenes, which may give them a lot of ‘pain’ in the future. David Warner’s retirement was just the beginning. The reality is that today’s Australian team is the oldest team to take the field in the last 90 years. Regarding this, former cricketers and experts have given a big warning to Cricket Australia that they should be prepared for a “painful regeneration”.
How ‘old’ is this team?
The figures are really shocking. The average age of the Australian team playing in the recent Test series against West Indies was more than 31 years. This is the first time since the 1930s that the Australian team is playing with such a large number of older players.
Key pillars of the team, such as David Warner (38), Usman Khawaja (38), Steve Smith (36), Mitchell Starc (35), Josh Hazlewood (34)and captain Pat Cummins (32)all are at that stage of their careers where retirement is not far away.
Why is this a matter of concern?
Cricket experts believe that the retirement of all these experienced players together or nearby will leave a huge void for Australia, which will not be easy to fill.
- lack of experience: With the departure of so many big players together, there will be a huge lack of experience in the team.
- Pressure on young players: There will be a lot of pressure on new and young players to perform as soon as they arrive.
- Team balance will be disturbed: It takes years to build a strong team. With so many changes, the balance of the team can be completely disturbed.
Former Australian cricketer and commentator Greg Chappell has described the situation as “extremely painful”. He said that it is almost impossible to replace so many senior players at once and Australia should be prepared for this.
Ashes crisis looming
The crisis looks even bigger ahead of the prestigious Ashes series next year. The England team, which is playing with an aggressive strategy of ‘baseball’, is young and full of energy. At the same time, Australia may have to face England without its most experienced warriors or at the last stage of their career.
The biggest challenge now facing Cricket Australia is how they prepare new faces while still having these big players. The smoother this change is, the better it will be for Australia, otherwise their future may indeed be ‘painful’.
