Australia bites the dust and hands over the "Ashes"

England have done it. They have regained the Ashes from the Aussies. Ask any Englishmen or an Oz and they will tell you that they value the "Ashes" more than their life. So, it was no surprise to see the English players in seventh heaven after inflicting a crushing defeat to Australia in the final cricket test at the Oval on Sunday the 23rd August 2009.

As expected, this series was also a close fought battle but failed to reach great heights qualitatively as the 2005 series did in England. Statistically, the Aussies did much better in batting and bowling- six of the top seven run- getters were the Aussies and the three top wicket takers were also from their team. But, as the English skipper Andrew Strauss said" when we played bad, we played very bad and when we played good, it was good enough". The crucial period of the games which counted was won by the English team and that turned the tide.

The Australian media and the critics are trying to find the scapegoats in the form of selectors and the captain Ricky Ponting. It would be better if they introspect instead and start building a new team for the future. The arrogance of Hayden, the solidity of Langer at the top of the order, the belligerence of Gilchrist, the nagging accuracy of Macgrath and the guile of Shane Warne were missing. Add to this the genius of Andrew Symonds who was sacked on disciplinary grounds, you are left with a team which is woefully short on experience. But there need be no panic but a clear plan and time frame for rebuilding a team.Cricket Australia will have to concentrate on this and one can see the resurrection of the Australian team.

The final test also saw the talismanic Flintoff bidding farewell to test cricket. Injuries have shortened his career but he was very much instrumental in England winning the Ashes this summer.
It was good to see the Series bringing in lots of crowds in all the five tests. It is high time the ICC starts thinking in grouping the strong teams together and the minnows in another group. For test cricket to survive it has to provide intense , tough and quality cricket. Otherwise, it will be a matter of time when test cricket would be a " has been".

Beware Australia, thou shall be the loser

Australia has been a country where racism has been always simmering within for many years now. Asians and Indians have been at the receiving end but what has happened recently to the Indian students is deplorable. The month of May 09 has seen several incidents of brutal assaults on Indians. If a foreign tourist is raped or robbed in India, the Indian media highlights the issue to such an extent that proper attention is given to rectify the deeds. However, one finds the Australian police, media and even the Government is underplaying the dastardly events that have happened to the Indian students. It is abundantly clear that these are racial attacks by a bunch of hooligans and thugs and the Indians are singled out. It is shameful that incidents of violence happens in public places like trains or railway stations and the public are mere passive onlookers. The gang is rejoicing and celebrating this as " Indian hunting month". Under these circumstances, it is shocking that the Australian authorities are treating these as "one of those incidents" and putting the blame on Indians being "soft targets".
The Australian government is more interested in preserving their "tourism image" and the fund flow to their educational institutions. There are approximately 100,000 Indian students in Australia to further their studies and they cough up Rs. 20,000 crores( Rs.200 billion) as their tuition fees and living expense. It is high time the Australian government takes sterner measures against the perpetrators of violence and ensure such incidents do not recur. Else, there won't be any takers for the courses that their Universities offer. They shall be the loser. A strong campaign is now going on in India not to go to Australia for higher studies thanks to the racism being perpetrated by some gangs there.
The Indian goverment is bringing a lot of pressure on their Australian counterpart. The sooner they bring about a permenant solution, the better it is for Australia. People talk about human rights violations. The western world act like big brothers to point out flaws in human rights violations in India, China and the developing world. But not a whisper is raised when such things are happening in developed countries like Australia. Different rules for different people. If this is not a sham, what is it?