Is India the new England, and England the new Aus?

The type of catastrophic tour that the India team is currently experiencing was the kind that England themselves were once accustomed to not so long ago. In fact, is India the new England? The 1994-95 Ashes trip by Mike Atherton’s England was a 4-1 defeat and with so many injuries, and replacements sent out, that few could recall the original squad – and by the end of the tour, few really cared. Such tours as these — when it seems nothing can get any worse but it actually does — now seem to be affecting the hapless Indians. The infamous ‘dodgy prawns’ tour of India in 1992-93, when Graham Gooch was struck by illness after eating prawns a night before the Chennai Test, was another similarly nightmarish occasion. England lost 3-0 as illness struck their captain. There have been so many of these low times in fact since the mid-1980s that the England cricket team became a theme of ridicule – usually with Australia the slayers, but a few struggles against minnows Zimbabwe and even the odd loss to weak New Zealand and West Indies sides have not helped the cause. [caption id=“attachment_79757” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“After a high there is a low, and after a low there is a great debate. Reuters”]  [/caption] However, as we all now know, England’s Test team of the present cannot do anything wrong, it seems, sitting on top of the world; and even that confidence and momentum is threatening to seep through into the limited overs version. England’s efficiency on the field is mirrored by a professionalism and organisation off the field with a top-class support and coaching team that shadows the players everywhere and is the envy of the world. And then there’s an impressive administrative force sitting back at Lord’s in the ECB offices (we won’t mention Stanford for now…). It is almost as though England are the new Australia. It wasn’t so long ago, maybe six years, when all facets of the English game resembled an embarrassingly shameless attempt to make everything Australian-like. To the point where they just copied things or more pointedly, imported Aussies by the bucket-load. Rod Marsh was the initial head of England’s academy and then later a selector, Troy Cooley was the bowling coach during Duncan Fletcher’s reign, Shane Warne’s brilliantly astute and now late mentor Terry Jenner was hired to nurture spin bowling talent around the country and even the England women’s team appointed an Aussie, John Harmer, as coach. Nothing could escape ‘the Australian Way’ for a fair time. India may do the same now with England – they have already tried to nick Andy Flower as coach. The world has apparently gone mad as even key personnel from Australian cricket can now be heard making noises about how Cricket Australia should follow the example of the England and the Wales Cricket Board. Isn’t life fickle? The results of the recent Argus Report saw a few notable hard-line Aussies do the unthinkable and hint at going ‘the English Way’. As for India, we in England might be enjoying the current hysteria in terms of reaching number one in the Test rankings, winning the Test series 4-0 for a sixth consecutive series victory and of course starting the T20 and ODI series with wins; but the sensible ones among us know not to get over-excited after 2005, the open-top bus and the subsequent butt-kicking revenge Down Under. It’s funny how humiliation breeds humility in success. But however joyous the English supporters have or have not become, what of India? How can a team degenerate so badly from being a side ahead of the world in Test cricket, 50-over World Cup winners and generally players who cause fear in oppositions – mainly because of the batting line-up — to current shambles? Continues on the next page The number of injuries, numbering eight after Sachin Tendulkar was the latest to depart with a toe problem, has been incredible to the point of mystery. There’s no mystery in fatigue and overkill causing a few players to fall over with various ailments (though the captain who has the greatest workload is still standing – just), but the many absences cannot all be excused quite so easily. They have, though, diluted and undermined England’s successes to a certain extent. It’s crazy how folk can acclimatise to the feelings of the moment. Some England fans have been heard on talk shows saying they didn’t like winning so easily and would have preferred more of a contest. You can’t win, eh! Just like how gloating Australians sharing a lift with me on that 94-95 tour were heard saying, ‘can’t we just play the Poms in three Tests from now on?’ Times change and results go in cycles. Without going into the whys and wherefores now of India’s woes, which we have attempted to debate previously, and I’m sure we will do again, it should just be pointed out that India’s slip could just be an English one, one that we have experienced many times before. After a high there is a low, and after a low there is a great debate. Before the next high and then low, just when you thought your team was ready to dominate. India will probably have to wait another generation at least until it regains its place at the summit of the Test rankings, but one who has seen this so many times before from England must offer some solace and suggest that this current blip with a capital ‘B’ is merely a slide on a heart-rate machine that will one day present more highs; but not for a while.