Australia scored a resounding victory in the final one-day match of their English tour this season against a spirited England side which on more than one occasion have shown that they have the ability to come back from the dead. Australia's win, however, cemented their status as the elite team in one-day cricket even though the gap between them and the No. 2 team in the world has considerably diminished from the one that everyone had presumed before the summer commenced. Even though according to the official ICC rankings, Sri Lanka have the honour of holding second position in the ODI table, it is safe to say there isn’t much to choose between Sri Lanka and Australia’s latest opponents who currently lie in sixth spot. Of course, their recent performance in the NatWest Series and NatWest Challenge firmly buttresses this point.

For Australian cricket fans, though, it hasn't been a first-half of the summer that they would relish for too long. Expected to win both the ODI Series convincingly, they have done anything but. Players' injury problems and social problems kept the team spirits low off the field as did initial losses to England and (who would have believed) Bangladesh on it. When Australia did start the winning habit and virtually had England down and out in the final of the triangular tournament, they couldn't force the issue in their favour. Ricky Ponting's reaction told a story of its own when they realised they had shared the trophy and not won it.

Come the NatWest Challenge and looking to start afresh as well as redeem their fortunes, Australia handed the the initiative again as they convincingly got outplayed in the first of the three-match series at Leeds. Albeit, it must be said, that the team from Down Under did have the worse of the conditions in both innings of the match.

Having said all this, it appears quite definitely that something has been amiss; something about Australia's well-oiled machine has ostensibly changed; a crack in the wall of the Australian fortress has begun to appear. The question, of course, is whether this crack is ready to split asunder or is a hairline fracture that will soon be healed up. In short, is it the beginning of the end of Australia's dominance or the end of the downfall from their lofty throne?

History tells us that Australia cannot always dominate world cricket. They might have the best academies, coaching and first-class programmes anywhere on the globe but that doesn't mean that will equate to as numero uno for all times to come. They have raised the bar to a very high level but there will come a time when a team will be tall enough to overcome it.

The change in world order is most likely (although not most certainly) to arrive at a time when Australia's well-bred cricketers grow too long in the tooth and their replacements are not experienced enough to fill their boots; when old stallions cannot run fast enough and the bones of the younger ones aren't sturdy enough. It will be the sort of time that Pakistan experienced after the 2003 World Cup. It will be a time of rebuilding --- a time when some more established side can take over the mantle.

But has that time come now? Only the next few months of cricket can answer that question. In the meantime, all this speculation makes for a very healthy appetizer to the longest-standing traditional rivalry in cricket.

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2005 Ateeq Abdul Rauf email:ateeqar@gmail.com)