Almanac Cricket: India and Australia – Diverging Paths
John Howard used to say that captain of the Australian cricket team was the most important job in the country. Let’s take him at his word.
Pat Cummins – the kind, smart, intelligent, good looking captain of Australia. Every prospective father-in-law’s dream. As a cricketer the personification of excellence in orthodoxy. Textbook execution as bowler and leader. If dogs look like their owners – Pat would be a labrador retriever. Wide eyed and eager to please.
Jasprit Bumrah – equally personable in public but with a ruthless edge on the field. No-one’s idea of a Bollywood heartthrob (unlike many of his team mates) but with the effervescent smile of a kid in a candy store. Not tall for a fast bowler but with the chest and shoulders of a javelin thrower. He ambles, trots and skips then launches with the explosive fury of a hypersonic missile. Doubtless we could have coached that out of him.
Travis Head, on 89, was seeing watermelons and a beckoning century. Bowling himself sparingly to preserve his energy, captain Bumrah had had enough of the supporting cast. A bouncer for 4 byes/wides climbed higher than three-times wicketkeeper Rishbah Pant could have reached. Next ball short and wide – Travis pinned his ears back – but the pace and bounce would have overwhelmed any missile shield. Only an edge connected – exit Travis.
Bumrah leads by example more than strategy. But it’s an example all his team mates strive to emulate. In the canine universe he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You wouldn’t back him in the mounting yard, but when the gates open and the ball leaves his hand he takes your head off.
Both teams embody something about their countries. Australia – rich and prosperous – 6% of the world’s mineral resources by value with 0.3% of the world’s population. Australia has a GDP per capita six times that of India, but India has now surpassed China as the world’s most populous country. It is the fastest growing major economy at 8% p.a. while Australia splutters at 1%.
Narendra Modi is a ruthless autocrat, who demands favour, punishes critics and rewards supporters. But the number of Indian’s living in extreme poverty has halved in ten years. The country has substantially modernised and invested in digital infrastructure and energy security. It’s size and growth rate means neither the USA or China can ignore it, but it is beholden to neither.
In a world where the strong do as they want, and the weak as they must, Modi is an inscrutable, avuncular guest at the shoulder of all the major international powerbrokers.
By contrast Albo consults opinion polls before putting on his pants, and rings Murdoch and Stokes to decide the colour of his socks. Kevin Rudd gave a ‘Sorry’ speech, Albo has made it an overarching policy framework.
If that seems harsh or partisan, he is largely reflecting our historic Lucky Country mentality. Uncertain of whether the luck can hold, but individually determined to hang onto our own piece lest it evaporate. Inward looking and endlessly debating trivia, absent a national direction or focus. Green energy superpower or hydrocarbon exporter? Resenting immigration’s housing impact but dependent on it for the menial jobs now beneath us. China’s mine or America’s poodle?
As goes the country, so follows the sporting teams. Our kids have a hundred choices, while Indians have cricket. The Matildas floundering in the world football hierarchy, under assault from an AFL diluting the talent pool lest any other code encroach on its media dominance. It’s like Coles and Woolworths land banking to prevent the growth of competitors.
Indian wunderkind Jaiswal took himself from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai as a ten year-old to develop his game, surviving as a street vendor before a groundsman took him in to live in a tent, before his talent matured and was recognised.
Contrast that with last week’s AFL draft where 52 of 71 came from private schools. Our egalitarian ideals are more evoked than realised. Our burgeoning public sector breeding decay more than opportunity. Good objectives sunk by myopic policy analysis and implementation (whither NDIS).
The depth of Indian cricket had seen KS Rahul on the outer. Sniffing an opportunity with injured captain Sharma, he came to Perth early to practise on hard wickets and cement an opening spot.
India the pack of hungry dogs, while Australia sauntered into town with indeterminate preparations (few involving runs or wickets) and Emperor Pat advising that his legions were best a little ‘underdone”. Ten minutes at the crease for most of the top order will have done little to “overcook” them.
In the reliable exercise of picking a best XI from both teams, probably only two Australian fast bowlers get a gig accompanying Bumrah in the Austro-Indian Galacticos. Australian players are devaluing in the IPL auction faster than the Aussie Dollar.
Australia is no doubt a richer and more generous country than India, but our diverging paths suggest our vulnerability in a ruthless and competitive geopolitical world. Most confuse good luck for genius.
(Marcus Labuschagne batting coach reassigned to OH&S duties – Day 4 of Perth Test)
More from Peter Baulderstone can be read Here
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About Peter Baulderstone
Very perceptive piece Peter. Well done.
Fantastic read Pete. The hunger just isn’t there in the Australian team. The Indians have to bite and scratch for their opportunities. I’d love to see wholesale changes made to our test team regardless of how long it takes for them to reach any level of success. Great point about the private school dominance in the draft. Just for once I’d love a channel 7 commentator say, “this young gun drafted from Kwinana, Balga, Elizabeth or Sunshine High School”.
Some really interesting points here, PB.
Getting away from the cricket here, but…whilst the Morrison government was one of the most despicable we have ever had, I reckon the Albo government has been the most disappointing and weak. Never has a prime minister wasted so much political good will.
It infuriates me that governments of all stripes pander to interest groups and lobbyists, rather than putting the people first! Witness the ongoing saga regarding gambling advertising reform. It is now being pushed back into 2025 due to ‘concerns’ from the gambling industry. At this rate, cigarette advertising will be back in vogue and the cricketers will be playing for the Benson and Hedges Cup!
Pretty much sums the situation up between the 2 countries. At the moment India’s depth is by far greater. Uzzie, Manus and Smudge are all under the pump, however, unlike India, there is no one knocking on the door, demanding to be selected. With Captain Cummins declaring no changes likely for the pink ball test, it will be most interesting to see how our first six batsmen respond.
PB unfortunately you nailed it re both cricket and society wise – perceptive v interesting read thank you
Thanks PB.
Thoughtful and interesting.
Mind you, John Howard also made statements about weapons of mass destruction – and I don’t think he was talking about Bumrah.
Would love to discuss it all over a beer or opiate of the masses.
The lap of Ahmedabad Stadium in Modi’s chariot probably puts the Modi-Albanese relationship in some sort of perspective.
Thanks all. Always good to ask questions and think long term, even if there are no (palatable) short term answers. Albo’s capitulation over gambling advertising and housing and……..probably got my dander up more than Marcus Labuschagne’s.
Let’s hope Randy Newman was right – but I’m not optimistic.
“We’ll save Australia
Don’t want to hurt no kangaroo
We’ll build an all American amusement park there
They’ve got surfing, too”
Randy Newman – “Political Science” (if only)
PB I couldn’t help thinking the same thing as the test unfolded – Indians are hungry and tough and ruthless. Sort of how we once described our own cricket team (AB, S Waugh, D Lillee etc etc). But not anymore. Our blokes looked soft, content (a lot of childish giggling at missed shots),and pampered. More concentrating on their “loads” then getting a wicket or hitting a run. Paddy Cummins was disturbingly bad.
Heaven help us if Bumrah’s bowling in that difficult hour or so after dinner during the Adelaide Test. While this D/N fixture might be an excellent televisual (advertising) spectacle, it’s not really advanced the lot of Test cricket. Let Brisbane have it so it might boost attendance there. Pleased that the Ashes Test will be a traditional day affair.
Terrific thought-provoking, no, just provoking article, PB!
Top piece PB, excellent.
Thanks for your lens on life and sport and the whole damn thing.
On the same page.
Cheers
Frank
India, has long moved from the ‘jewel in the British crown’. In tracing the legacy of the British empire India now runs world cricket. The sun has long set on the moribund old MCC, the extravagant, cashed up, take no prisoners, BCCI runs world cricket. Even with this major change some things stay the same. The ACB still kowtows to the dominant power in world cricket.
India’s economy has long moved on from being one of the ‘poor men’ of S E Asia. As part of the growing world of BRIC’s, India expects with good reason to be heard on the world stage. Modi is not a particularly nice person but his bringing much of his nation out of poverty into being a important player on the world stage in the early 21st Century means he can’t be ignored.
Indian cricket; well the power of the BCCI says it all. Sure we beat them in the World Test Championship, also the ODI World Cup, but what does that mean in this series? An aging Australian side, with no real pressure on their spots, drifted into this test expecting a win. How much more wrong could they be?
Unsure about the analagies between the Australian cricketing system and Australian politics, but there’s one point I’m noticing . PB talks about the Lucky Country mentality, so maybe this might make sense . Does Australia want to live in a world of complacency where we accept a reasonable level of success both in our cricket and politics, but not go beyond that ? We are a cricketing side that bullies the smaller, poorer nations, yet remains subservient to the BCCI, as we were previously to the MCC. Our politicians don’t want to make any change that impacts on the bottom line of the biggest corporations: look at the contrived angst over the recent proposed changes to the Future Fund, compared to a place like Norway which has a wonderful Future Fund providing great education and healthcare to its population.
No it’s looking like a long summer for our cricketers, concurrently a one term ALP Federal Government, the first since the days of James Scullin. Truly, poor fellow my country
Glen!.
I agree with the general thrust of Peter’s piece that that this country might be reaping the “rewards” of a soft lifestyle, compared to that of India, but do we really want our kids to be in abject poverty to be able to succeed?