Australia have nothing more left to demonstrate to the world that they are the number one team in world cricket, no matter the format, be it Twenty 20, One Day or five day test.

For more than a century, their culture has bred fighting and spirited players who play with a single-minded goal, keeping aside any individual differences. They take their game seriously, even if they play a street team from an unknown village in some remote part of the world. As time goes on, they may leave the rest of the cricketing world way behind.

There will be a gaping divide between cricket standards in Australia and elsewhere. Third world countries, which have a huge cricket following, will remain mediocre, with sparkling performances happening like a flash in the pan. Consistency of standard will stay with the Australians. South Africa and England may catch up with the Aussies once in a while, but they will probably stay behind in an overall standard.

'Some of Australia's local state teams might be as good or better than some of the Test playing nations'


Standard:
Persistent poor standard reflects in team performance and frequent losses will cause public interest to wane and morale will disappear. This is the case with many third world cricketing nations like the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Though match victories are celebrated like God's arrival in these countries, in general they have stayed behind in world standard of cricket.

Culture:
Culture plays a big part in the attitude and outlook of sportsman in these nations. So long as the English county cricket supported them, teams from the West Indies and Pakistan did exceptionally well. Now that has dried up and one can tell the drastic drop in their standards. The emotional nature of the people in the sub-continent adds further downgrading effect where egos clash, favoritism thrives, politics and gossip gain more popularity than the game itself. These nations are driven by heroes and when the heroes get knocked out in the ring by the fighters from Australia, morale dives way too low.

Success can lead to self-defeat:
Too much success can become satiating. Australians might feel thrilled about punching down every opponent in the game everywhere they play. But their own success can lead to the failure of the game in their country. People will begin to long for a worthy opponent in order to get their money's worth. In fact, some of Australia's local state teams might be as good or better than some of the Test playing nations.

In the US, most popular games are confined within its borders. The American population does not care much about what happens on the outside world. They have the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, ABL, NCAA leagues, in addition to golf, tennis and auto racing to keep themselves busy. And the franchises trade players and weak teams get preference for drafting college talent.

Thus they maintain a balance in their standard. And the money involved is phenomenal. Spectators get their money's worth. In Australia, the public do not pay much attention to the state cricket matches as much as they do when they watch their national team play others. Teams representing nations invite patriotism and the feelings become rather emotional. That is not the case with franchise league games.

Thus, cricket in Australia might become a victim of its own success in the long run. Unless the public decide to spend their money on their own local matches rather than on international ones, the Australian teams might run out of worthy opponents. And the stark difference in cricketing standards between Australia and the other nations will lower the morale of the people and players of those nations, as they'd play Australians with a defeatist mentality.

Planning future series:
The current one-day series between Australia and India has done long-term damage to international cricket, molre than people can imagine. There is no depth in talent to strike with a counter punch in Indian cricket right now. The blow is even harder since the team just returned from Twenty20 success.

Future of cricket and its popularity:
For international cricket to stay healthy in the near future, serious measures should be looked at. Until the rest of the world catches up with Australia, the ICC has to find ways to temper the shock every cricketing nation is going to go through with the Australians. Australia has great players unable to find a spot in their national team. Some players never get to play Test cricket during their entire careers, waiting for a chance. These are players who would have been worshipped in other countries.

Confidence:
When Sourav Ganguly's team beat Steve Waugh's Australians in India, confidence brimmed. And it was this confidence that helped them go one up against the same Australian team on their own home ground. For the first time, the Australians were made to look for survival and had to fight to save the series. That's what confidence does. This time, it has been nipped in the bud.

A new look at cricket:
In the near future, maybe Australia should send its second level teams for a one-day series of this kind and confine its main team to major international tournaments and Test matches against nations that rank in the next four levels. This way, many aspiring and talented Australian players will get to show their mettle in international games and might even provide a chance for the selectors to choose the best team. I'd even go further and suggest that Australia, being the world champions, should be allowed to have more than one Test team. They should be able to play a home series with one team, while another team plays a different series elsewhere.

Building the infrastructure:
Cricketing nations should hire experts from Australia to boost their cricketing infrastructure modeled on the Australian system. In a couple of decades, the standard will improve. If Australia needs worthy opponents, they need to step in and help others get on board. Otherwise they will see everyone getting drowned in mediocrity.

Australia should even invite and let international players play in their domestic cricket matches to give them the necessary exposure to the rigors of their system. This is what county cricket did to the West Indians and Pakistanis during the 70s and 80s. Kerry Packer's series and innovations elevated these players to a level  above the rest. All players who played in the WSC were changed forever and it told on their performance.

If people do not look at the future and see what is coming, they may not be making much money in the long run. Currently, boards like the BCCI are busy making money and not showing much vision and planning for the future. They are reaping the benefits from the efforts of individual players who build their own talent and earn their place in the team. In Australia, the system is well laid out right from the school level and talent is built over a long period of time.

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