PACE legend Michael Holding has said the slide in Australia’s fortunes reminds him of the way the powerful West Indies team disintegrated in the 1990s.
Holding attributed Australia’s state to a lost generation of players who did not get a chance because of the presence of older stalwarts in the side. “There is almost a lost generation of Australian players in their late twenties, players who should have been learning their trade during the 2006-07 Ashes, but couldn’t find a spot because there were so many exceptional thirty somethings in the team,” Holding wrote in his columns for Daily Telegraph.
“There comes a tipping point when your opponents realise that you are human after all, and suddenly they stand a foot taller when they walk on to the field against you,” he explained.
“A huge amount of cricket is played in the head. I know the power of intimidation from my own time in the West Indies team. We saw players who could dominate other attacks, but when they came up against us they would surrender as meekly as mice,” the West Indian wrote.
Ricky Ponting’s Australia have already lost the Ashes to England after the visitors took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series with one Test to go. Having won the previous Ashes at home, England will retain the urn even if they lose the final Test.
Holding felt England’s improved performance in recent times is due to the changing structure of the county circuit.
“You can find structural reasons for the revival of English cricket. County players aren’t coasting through the second half of the season anymore, because of the two-division system.”
“A lot of it comes down to talent. England have uncovered a decent crop, while the Aussies have had a thin few years,” the veteran insisted.
The 56-year-old also had some interesting insights on the development of the West Indian team during the 1970s and why they also fell apart from the mid-90s onwards.
“For a team to become a dynasty, they need a few things to click. In our case, we had a cause, because we felt we were fighting for a newly independent, self-confident Caribbean region.”
“And we allied that cause to the discipline and professionalism we learned from playing in Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket.”
“It was through WSC that we first encountered Dennis Waight, the physio who made us into the fittest team in international cricket. His exercise sessions turned a loose-knit group of talented players into a winning machine. “
“(But) in the West Indies, our decline was accelerated by the fact that our modern players have a mercenary edge to them. They are in cricket for what they can get out of it, whereas we fought for the pride of the region.” (Cricket Australia)