Well as just about everybody on earth thought, Australia blew New Zealand off the park in the first Twenty20 match which also marked the start of the Aussie's tour of New Zealand.
Leading the way were the usual suspects in Johnson (3/19), Tait (2/21) and Nannes (2/22). The three quicks had the Black Caps reeling and they never really recovered. But it is not a fore gone conclusion that this will be the team to represent Australia in the Twenty20 World Championships. Micheal Clarke was not out on 18 which is a good effort, but it took him 26 balls to do so, a strike rate at of 69.23. This is not what is required of a International Twenty20 player.
While his form in the shorter form leaves a lot to be desired his captaincy does not. He was born to led men into battle in this 'hit first think later' form of cricket. His energy and tactics in this pressure cooker situation is outstanding and everyone on the team feeds off it and it has helped younger kids find their feet in the team, most notably Stephen Smith.
However, Clarke needs to step up his batting because there are plenty of candidates that could take his place. Leading that charge is James Hopes, who staked a claim for a birth in the Twenty20 with his 50 off 26 balls in the last one day match against the West Indies. So am I well off the mark or should we move on from Clarke despite his captaincy skills? Let me know.
Brett Lee, Australia's lightening fast opening bowler has pulled stumps on his International Test Career after another injury has caused him to miss 10 months of cricket.
This was in some ways inevitable, the amount of work he would have to do, to get back to match fitness and to the pace he was bowling before injury in England and then two months later in India cut short his Test career. As well having to compete for a spot in the Australian team after his replacements have performed so well that justifying dropping them would be as hard as justifying in invasion of Poland.
However, had you said that Australia's premier fast bowler, having taken over 300 Test wickets, would retire from the longest form of the game and focus on the shorter forms, you'd have been looked upon as if you had three heads. The fact is that many thought that One Day Internationals and Twenty20 cricket would be the death of bowling. But instead of trying to keep to the form of the game that people say would better suit bowlers he has gone the other way.
People want short, sharp, entertaining cricket which usually a lot of big hitting and plenty of sixes, so for Brett Lee to just be playing in these two forms something has to have changed. Hasn't it?
Well, when people first thought that this crazy form of the game would mean less people would be inclined to take up bowling they didn't think of one thing, less is sometimes more. With less wickets falling people become more excited when they do fall, and when you have one the fastest and most accurate bowlers playing you are guaranteed excitement.
Although his draw card is not the only factor for him ending his test career. he can still win matches for a team. His efforts in India for the Champions Trophy Twenty20 almost single-handedly won the final for New South Wales and ensured a massive pay cheque. Australia, despite its dominance in previous years in one Day Internationals and Test matches, are still struggling getting to grips with Twenty20 cricket and have failed to impress in the shortest form of the game. So keen to impress their dominance across all forms of cricket Australia would be foolish to overlook a fit and healthy Brett Lee.
After a summer that has been less then intriguing to say the least, a legitimate question to ask would be when will Australia next face tough opposition?
After sweeping away Pakistan and the West Indies in all forms of the game, The Aussies are now travelling to New Zealand where the Kiwis are not expected to put up too much resistance. After that series of Tests, One Dayers and Twenty20 matches they head to England to face Pakistan to again put the cleaners through them.
It could be said that the Twenty20 World Championships will provide some stiff opposition, however, the short nature of the game means that just about any one can win on the day. Just ask England about last years opening game of the Twenty20 World Championships. Thus, it could not be a place to determine whether they faced good opposition or not, unlike Test Matches.
Some would argue that England, when they come out here for the Ashes in November will be our next big task. I beg to differ, England have not sent a team out here worthy of challenging for the Ashes since Adam was a boy. Jimmy Anderson, while bowling very well against us in last Ashes series, has toured here twice and has taken a similar amount of wickets here as well. Their other bowlers in Stuart Broad, Graham Onions and Ryan Sidebottom will find it difficult to get the swing they are used to in Australian conditions. The only bowler who will do well and could prove to be the key for England is Graeme Swann. He was the form bowler last year and could do well here in Australia. However, even he may get the full treatment from an Australian batting line up which will be keen to win back the Ashes.
So until we meet South Africa or India again I fear more of the same will occur, however let us hope that England put up more of fight then what we have seen in the last four months.
James McKeown
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