Hell yeah! Its official! Australia has reclaimed the ICC‘s number 1 rank of all test cricketing nations. We’re the best! Suck it, England, South Africa, India, Pakistan, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh! Sure, the middle order might be still be completely suspect at best, and we may be merely riding the coattails of two particularly good series, and a bunch of favourable statistical rules might have fallen our way, but that doesn’t change the fact that WE ARE CHAMPIONS OF CRICKET. BOW DOWN, BITCHES.
“How the hell did this happen?” you may ask, “We haven’t been THAT good, have we?” Well, in the period that counts, we have. With the last season officially over, all the points accumulated during the 2010-2011 period don’t count anymore, and the points from the 2012-2013 season have lost half their weighting. This goes a long way towards erasing some of our dreadful performances, and effectively consigning the string of Ashes losses suffered to history, with little-to-no effects lingering actively.
This puts Australia at the top of the rankings in both Test and One Day International tables for the first time in years. Is it due to Michael Clarke’s long overdue maturation as a tactician and leader? Doubtful. Is it because of Darren Lehmann’s no-nonsense overhaul of team attitudes? Maybe. Is it due to Mitchell Johnson’s seemingly endless supply of angry pills? Definitely likely. Whatever it is, we’re kings of the goddamned world limited range of British Empire associated nations who play this funny and much beloved sport.
And our dominance doesn’t end with the men, either. With the Women’s Southern Stars team the clear force in world cricket, currently holding the 2nd position in test rankings, along with the top spot in ODI and T20 competition. This performance comes on the back of a star-studded team, with world-class players such as Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry and Jess Cameron continually returning outstanding results.
It might be premature to suggest that Australian cricket is entering a new golden era. But we’re certainly not too far off.
Photo: AFP via Getty Images.
