May 23, 2007 06:08 AM
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The Australian cricket team is all-conquering, as they showed in the recently concluded World-Cup. But it remains to be seen whether they will continue at the top after the retirements of some of their best players. Some of the current Australian players are nearing the end of their careers(Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting etc). They would all be replaced by young blood. The next generation. But the only player they cannot replace is Glenn McGrath.
If you look at it carefully, McGrath's bowling is not the very best in terms of magic and bamboozling the batsmen. The world's greatest bowlers are Shane Warne, Murali and Kumble. They can stun even well-set batsmen with their cunning. Ask Mike Gatting about Shane Warne! Murali can leave people clueless. And just how many test matches has Kumble single-handedly won for India!
While the above three bowlers treat bowling as an art, McGrath treats it as a science. There are no special balls as such. But accuracy that leads even the best batsmen to make mistakes. If he decides to bounce the ball in a certain region of the pitch, it will land only there. Not an inch of deflection.
There may have been faster bowlers like Akhtar / Pollock etc. But what distinguishes McGrath from all of them is that he is a player for the biggest of occasions. Some examples here support this claim.
1999 World Cup match. Aus vs W Indies. Not only did Australia have to win this match, they also had to make sure that West Indies made it to the next round, ahead of New Zealand, owing to the points-carry-over rule! The writing on the wall was clear - W Indies have to be shot out for a very low score. In walks McGrath, and takes 5 wickets! WI - 147 all out.
1999 World Cup Super-Six Match. Aus vs Ind. The winner of this match was tipped to win the WC, and the loser was tipped to go home for relaxation. Prior to this match, Ind had made 373 vs SL, 319 vs Kenya and Tendulkar was in the finest form of his career. Till he got out for a duck facing McGrath. McGrath scalped 3 - Tendulkar, Azhar, Dravid. All ducks.
2007 Champions Trophy. McGrath changed his role from lead striker to first-change. This meant that he would not get as much wickets as before, but he bowled quite well, and the prized scalps of Tendulkar as well as Lara - Lara's during the Final. Throughout the Champions Trophy, the only batsman who hit him hard and clear was Chris Gayle. But that was totally reckless batting, not scientific stroke-making. Only two batsmen have actually swatted him with disdain - Sachin during the 2001 Champions Trophy, and VVS Laxman during the epic 2001 Eden Gardens Test.
I personally feel Aus will not be the same without McGrath. He was terribly missed using the Ashes 2005. Since he was injured, he did not play. That gave England the momentum.
The only drawback about him is his temperament. He behaves like a hooligan and a barbarian on the field(though off the field he is quite decent). He scalps the batsmen even by just talking to them! And he is also one of the most nasty-mannered cricketers. He may not cheat, but he sledges. That is even worse. But some people have also given it back royally - the best being Eddo Brandes and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
All things said and done, one year from now Australian cricket would not reign as the supreme force, since their supreme force would be gone.
