Australia | |
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Australia national cricket team logo |
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Test status granted | 1877 |
First Test match | v England at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, 15–19 March 1877 |
Captain | Ricky Ponting (Test & ODI) Michael Clarke (T20) |
Coach | Tim Nielsen |
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking | 3rd (Test), 1st (ODI) [1] |
Test matches - This year |
719 2 |
Last Test match | v Pakistan at Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Australia, 14–18 January 2010 |
Wins/losses - This year |
337/186 2/0 |
As of 19 January 2010 [2] |
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877 (defeating England by 45 runs).
As of 20 January 2010, the Australian team has played 719 Test matches, winning 51.87%, losing 20.87% and drawing 26.98% of its games.[1] It has a winning record against every other Test nation.[2] The Australian national cricket team has also led the ICC Test Championship table for the majority of the time since the creation of the ICC Test table system in January 2001. The South Africans did lead this table for a brief period from January to May 2003, before Australia resumed the first position on the table. Australia has since dropped down to third in the Test rankings behind India and South Africa.[3]
Australia have made 6 world cup final appearances and have won the Cricket World Cup 4 times in total; 1987, 1999, 2003 & 2007. Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice in 2006 and in 2009 making them the first and the only team to become Back to Back champions in the Champions Trophy tournaments. Australia also have been the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup champions (Under 19 Cricket World Cup) in 1988, 2002 and 2010. Australia were runners-up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010 (which was won by England).
As of 28 April 2007 they are undefeated in 29 consecutive World Cup matches. They have led the ICC One-Day International Championship table from its inception through to 18 February 2007, and then again from 7 April 2007 until 30 January 2009. In 2002, they were named World Team of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards in recognition of their world record sequence of test match victories.
Contents |
The history of the Australian cricket team is rich and diverse. Together with the English cricket team, it participated in the first Test match in 1877. A highlight of Australia's early history was the 1882 Test match against England at The Oval. In this match Fred Spofforth took 7/44 in the game's fourth innings to save the match by preventing England from making their 85-run target. After this match The Sporting Times, a major newspaper in London at the time, printed a mock obituary in which the death of English cricket was proclaimed and the announcement made that "the body was cremated and the ashes taken to Australia." This was the start of the famous Ashes series in which every two years Australia and England play a number of Test matches to decide the holder of the Ashes. To this day, the contest is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport.
In the first half-century or so, these contests were on the whole friendly but competitive with both sides enjoying the visit to another country, and getting to play against quality cricketers. The famous Bodyline series temporarily changed things. The series was marred by the tactics used by the English captain Douglas Jardine to control the batting of Don Bradman who completely destroyed the English bowling attack in the 1930 series. Jardine used his fast bowlers to bowl a high proportion of bouncers at head height over leg stump with 6 or 7 fielders in the inner leg side in a close catching position. Given the fact that there were no helmets around at the time the tactics were widely condemned by nearly all of Australia including many former Test cricketers and important politicians.
Australia continued its success up until the 1980s, built mainly around the likes of Richie Benaud, Bob Simpson (cricketer), the Chappell brothers, Dennis Lillee, and Rod Marsh. The 1980s was a period of relative mediocrity after the turmoil caused by World Series Cricket and the subsequent retirement of several key players, and it was not until the captaincy of Allan Border that the team was restructured. The 1990s and early 21st century were arguably Australia's most successful period, unbeaten in all Ashes series played bar the famous 2005 series and achieving a hat-trick of World Cups. This success has been attributed to the restructuring of the team and system by Border, successive shrewd captains, and the effectiveness of several key players, most notably Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting. In recent years however, following the retirement of most of this group of players, Australia has lost series to both India and England and has dropped to third place in the ICC Test Championship rankings.
Australian captain Steve Waugh referred to India as the "Final Frontier", as that was the only place where Australia hadn't won a series in over thirty years. Australia lost in the 2001 series 2–1 and when India came to Australia for Waugh's farewell series in 2003–04, they drew the series 1–1 and came close to winning it after scoring a national record 705 but not enforcing the follow-on.
However, later in the year, the side (captained by Adam Gilchrist) won in India for the first time in 35 years. The Australians won this series 2–1 (with one match rained out on the last day).
The 2004–05 summer season in Australia was against the touring Pakistani cricket team which Australia won convincingly, several matches ending on the 4th day (of 5). The first Test of 2005 ended with: AUS 568 and 1/62 v PAK 304 and 325; Ponting made 207 in the first innings, laying to rest a minor media issue of him not making a Test 100 in his first season as captain.
The 2005 Ashes tour to England became a watershed event in Australian cricket when, for the first time since 1986–87 a Test series was lost to the old enemy England, and The Ashes were thus surrendered. The summer started with four defeats in one week in one day matches (to England in a Twenty20 match, Somerset in a warm up match, and then Bangladesh and England in successive One Day Internationals). Australia and England tied the final match of the first one day international series, before Australia won the second series 2–1.
The first Test match at Lord's was a convincing victory for Australia, with Glenn McGrath impressing in particular. Captain Ricky Ponting afterwards famously said: We’ve a very good chance of winning 5–0. However at the second Test at Edgbaston star bowler Glenn McGrath was ruled out by an ankle injury after stepping on a ball in the practice nets; Ponting put England in to bat on a fair batting wicket (England scored 407 runs on the first day) and England eventually won a pulsating match by two runs and so leveled the series. England dominated the rain-affected third Test at Old Trafford, but a fine rearguard innings by Ponting just saved Australia on the final day and the match was drawn. In the fourth Test at Trent Bridge Australia was again outplayed and forced to follow-on for the first time in 191 Test matches and eighteen years. England struggled in their second innings but eventually got the 129 runs they needed to win, losing seven wickets in the process. Australia needed to win the fifth and final Test at The Oval to level the series and retain the Ashes but were hampered by bad weather, a strong England bowling performance on the fourth day and England's excellent batting (led by Kevin Pietersen and tailender Ashley Giles) on the final day before the match ended in a draw, handing England a 2–1 series win.
Ageing stars such as Hayden, Gilchrist, Martyn, Gillespie and Kasprowicz underperformed in the tour with Gillespie being subsequently dropped for new and younger talent. On the other hand Shane Warne, who took 40 wickets and scored 249 runs, gave an all-round good performance. Members of the old guard (Ponting, Langer, Lee and McGrath) also played well.
The ICC (International Cricket Council) sanctioned a test and three-match one-day series for 2005. This series was to be played between the top ranking test and one-day international nations (according to rankings as at April 2005) and an internationally selected Rest of the World XI. Australia was the top ranked nation in both forms of the game as at April 2005.
Australia had an opportunity to begin the rebuilding process following the Ashes series loss at the Super Test held against a Rest of the World team in Sydney in October. Although the match was of poor quality with the World team underperforming, it was a good opportunity for some of the Australian team to get back on track. Many did, especially Hayden who scored 111 and 87 and Gilchrist who scored 94 in the first innings and made seven dismissals. Stuart MacGill (who had not played in the 2005 Ashes) took nine wickets. Overall, the Australian Cricket Team clean swept the World XI Team 3–0 in the One Day International Series, and also won the six-day Test Match.
In November Australia continued to perform well winning a three match Test series with the West Indies comfortably. Stars were Hayden (who was clearly intent on proving that rumors of his cricketing death were premature – he scored 445 runs at an average of 89) and Hussey who had an auspicious debut season. Gilchrist, however, was out of touch with the bat as he had been in England throughout the month.
In the 2006 cricket tour to South Africa, Australia lost the one-day series 3–2 after a record-breaking final ODI. Setting South Africa a world record target of 434 off 50 overs (the previous record being 398/5 scored by Sri Lanka vs Kenya 10 years previously), South Africa managed to beat Australia by 1 wicket with a new record score of 438. Earlier, Ricky Ponting top-scored with 164 off 105 balls. South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs, likewise batting at number 3, went on to score 175 off 111 balls thereby playing an instrumental role in the run chase. Many other records were broken in the same match. A total of 872 runs were scored (The previous record was 693 when India beat Pakistan by five runs in Karachi in March 2004). Mick Lewis had the ignominy of becoming the most expensive bowler in ODI history with figures of 0/113 in his 10 overs.
In the test series that followed however, Australia won convincingly with Brett Lee and Stuart Clark (Man of the Series) playing particularly well.
Following the South African series, Australia toured Bangladesh for a two-test series. Despite expectations of a one-sided contest, the first test proved a very close affair with Bangladesh (historically the weakest test-playing nation) scoring more than 400 first-innings runs and bowling Australia out for 269 in the first innings on a very good batting wicket and ultimately setting Australia a challenging 307 for victory. Ponting's men were able to win this match by three wickets. However, in the second match Australia dominated throughout, winning by an innings and 80 runs. In Australia's only innings, Jason Gillespie became the first nightwatchman to score a double century with 201 not out.
After winning the ICC Champions Trophy convincingly, Australia went home for their summer to play England in a five-test series.
The first test took place in Brisbane at the Gabba. The second test took place in Adelaide from 1 December. The third match of the series was held at the WACA Ground in the West Australian city of Perth. Following the Third test victory, Australia reclaimed the Ashes, already having achieved a winning margin of 3–0 in the best of five series. England lamented the shortest period of Ashes retention in the history of the tournament, dating back to 1882. In the days following the historic win in Perth, spin bowler Shane Warne announced that he will retire from international cricket at the conclusion of the fifth and final Sydney test in January 2007. This also prompted Justin Langer, Australian opening batsmen at the time, to announce his retirement from Test cricket after the 5th test as well. Fast bowler Glenn McGrath later announced he too would retire from international cricket after the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
The fourth match of the series was played at the MCG. Australia took victory in just three days, only needing one innings of batting to outscore England. The fifth match in Sydney ended with Australia capturing a 10 wicket victory. The Australians completed a 5–0 whitewash of the Ashes series, the first time either side had achieved such a feat since the 1920–21 series.
Following the Ashes victory over England, Australia began the 2007 Commonwealth Bank Tri-series against England and New Zealand with a series of largely comfortable victories, leading to their coach John Buchanan complaining that the lack of opposition was undermining Australia's World Cup bid.[4] However, injuries to key players contributed to Australia losing two matches in the qualification games and the final 2–0 to an also injury hit England. With Ponting rested for the series against New Zealand, Australia under Michael Hussey lost the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 3–0, their first One Day series loss in New Zealand for 33 years. The loss also cost them the overall number one ranking for the first time since the rankings began.[5]
Australia dominated the 2007 Cricket World Cup, remaining unbeaten through the tournament. They dominated with the bat and ball. Remarkably they lost just 42 wickets in 11 matches, while claiming 104 out of 110 of their opponents. The best batsman for the tournament was Matthew Hayden, getting three centuries and 659 runs at an average of 73. Australia's keeper Adam Gilchrist starred in the World cup Final, scoring 149 in a convincing and controversial Australian win. Bowler Glenn McGrath was named Man of the Series for his magnificent contribution with the ball.[6]
Australia's kits are manufactured by Adidas. Fila previously manufactured the kits until the changeover to Adidas.
When playing test cricket, the test shirt consist of the Cricket Australia logo in the middle between the two traditional animals of Australia which they are the Kangaroo on the left of the logo and the Emu on the right underneath the logo it has the test player number and the match fixtures on the shirt. Australia has two major sponsors on their test shirts which are Victoria Bitter and Vodafone. As of 8th June Vodafone announce that they will take over from 3 Mobile as Australia's Test team and test series sponsor. When Australia plays test cricket on home soil they have the Vodafone sponsor and when Australia plays on away test matches they have the Victoria Bitter sponsor. The sponsors appear on the right of the shirt. The Adidas logo appears on the side on the right or left side of the shirt pending the bating arm underneath the logo it has the initials of the player. The players wear a green cap which Australian's refer to as "The Baggy Green" while on the field or the brim with the logo.
In limited overs cricket, Australia has the traditional of the green and gold. The main colour Green and Gold stripes shirts are worn when Australia plays on home soil with Commonwealth Bank as their sponsor in the centre. When Australia is playing on away matches they have the Victoria Bitter sponsor in the centre and the colours are opposite to their home shirt colours, the main colour is yellow with green stripes. Australia wears pants which suits the home or away matches. If Australia play at home, they wear green and gold and if they play away, then they wear the yellow and green.
In Twenty20 cricket, the home shirt colours are similar to the away ODI shirts, but they have more designs, are more brilliant and brighter as compared to the former. Also the sponsor ofTwenty20 team is KFC whose logo is displayed at the centre of the shirt. Away shirts are the same as the away ODI shirts.
This is a list of every player to have played for Australia in the last year, and the forms of the game in which they have played. Andrew Symonds, who has played ODI and Twenty20 cricket for Australia in the last year, is presently not available for selection after breaking the conditions of his 2009–10 central contract.[7]
Each year, Cricket Australia's National Selection Panel (NSP) names a list of 25 players for the coming year, from which selectors choose Test, One-Day and Twenty20 International teams. Salaries are based on a player ranking system decided by the NSP as well as match fees, tour fees and prize money for on-field success. The base retainer for the lowest ranked player is A$200,000 in 2010–11.[8] Uncontracted players remain eligible for selection and can be upgraded to a Cricket Australia contract if they gain regular selection.
The 2010–11 list was announced on 7 April 2010.[8] Of the players contracted only Andrew McDonald has not played for Australia in the last year.
Key
Name | Age | Batting Style | Bowling Style | State | Forms | S/N[9] |
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Test and ODI captain; Middle-Order Batsman | ||||||
Ricky Ponting | 36 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Medium | Tasmania | Test, ODI,[10] | 14 |
Twenty20 captain, vice-captain; Middle-Order Batsman | ||||||
Michael Clarke | 29 | Right-Handed Bat | Slow Left-Arm Orthodox | New South Wales | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 23 |
Opening Batsman | ||||||
Phillip Hughes | 22 | Left-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Off Break | New South Wales | Test | 2 |
Simon Katich | 35 | Left-Handed Bat | Slow Left-Arm Chinaman | New South Wales | Test | 13 |
Shaun Marsh | 27 | Left-Handed Bat | Slow Left-Arm Orthodox | Western Australia | ODI | 9 |
David Warner1 | 24 | Left-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Leg-Break | New South Wales | Twenty20 | 31 |
Shane Watson | 29 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast-Medium | New South Wales | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 33 |
Middle-Order Batsman | ||||||
Travis Birt1 | 29 | Left-Handed Bat | Right Arm Medium Fast | Tasmania | Twenty20 | 81 |
Callum Ferguson | 26 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Medium | South Australia | ODI, Twenty20 | 12 |
David Hussey1 | 33 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Off-Break | Victoria | Twenty20 | 29 |
Michael Hussey | 35 | Left-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Medium | Western Australia | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 48 |
Marcus North | 31 | Left-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Off-Break | Western Australia | Test | 26 |
Adam Voges | 31 | Right-Handed Bat | Slow Left-Arm Chinaman | Western Australia | ODI, Twenty20 | 24 |
Wicket-Keepers | ||||||
Brad Haddin | 33 | Right-Handed Bat | New South Wales | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 57 | |
Tim Paine | 26 | Right-Handed Bat | Tasmania | ODI, Twenty20 | 36 | |
All-Rounders | ||||||
Daniel Christian1 | 27 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast-Medium | South Australia | Twenty20 | 54 |
Moises Henriques1 | 24 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Medium-Fast | New South Wales | ODI | 21 |
James Hopes | 32 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Medium | Queensland | ODI, Twenty20 | 39 |
Steve Smith | 21 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Leg-Break | New South Wales | ODI, Twenty20 | 49 |
Cameron White | 27 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Leg-Break | Victoria | ODI, Twenty20 | 7 |
Pace Bowlers | ||||||
Doug Bollinger | 29 | Left-Handed Bat | Left-Arm Fast-Medium | New South Wales | Test, ODI | 4 |
Nathan Bracken1 | 33 | Right-Handed Bat | Left-Arm Fast-Medium | New South Wales | ODI, Twenty20 | 59 |
Stuart Clark1 | 35 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast-Medium | New South Wales | Test, ODI | 8 |
Ryan Harris | 31 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast-Medium | Queensland | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 45 |
Ben Hilfenhaus | 27 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast-Medium | Tasmania | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 20 |
Mitchell Johnson | 29 | Left-Handed Bat | Left-Arm Fast | Western Australia | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 25 |
Brett Lee | 34 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast | New South Wales | ODI, Twenty20 | 58 |
Clint McKay | 27 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast-Medium | Victoria | Test, ODI | 27 |
Dirk Nannes1 | 34 | Right-Handed Bat | Left-Arm Fast | Victoria | Twenty20 | 11 |
Peter Siddle | 26 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast-Medium | Victoria | Test, ODI | 10 |
Shaun Tait | 27 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Fast | South Australia | Twenty20 | 32 |
Spin Bowlers | ||||||
Nathan Hauritz | 29 | Right-Handed Bat | Right-Arm Off-Break | New South Wales | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 43 |
Under the Southern Cross I StandThe team song is "Under the Southern Cross I Stand," which is sung by the players after every victory and "treated with reverential consideration and respect" within the team.[37] The official lyrics are as follows, though when it is sung by the players, the word "little" in the last line is replaced by "bloody" or an expletive.
The authorship of this "Under the Southern Cross I Stand" is credited to former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, who was apparently inspired by Henry Lawson's 1887 poem, "Flag of the Southern Cross".[37] Marsh initially had the role of leading the team in singing it, and on his retirement he passed it on to Allan Border. The other players to have taken on the role are David Boon (when Border took over the captaincy), Ian Healy (on Boon's retirement), Ricky Ponting (on Healy's retirement), Justin Langer (when Ponting took over the captaincy). The role currently belongs to Michael Hussey, who took it on when Langer retired in January 2007. See also
Notes
External links
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