Crisis has lot of chances: Gilchrist

MUMBAI: A decade ago, it was hard to imagine a day would come when Australia would languish at the sixth spot of the ODI rankings.

Having won three consecutive World Cups, Australia were the team to beat back then with Bangladesh termed as ‘minnows’ or ‘giant killers’. At present, despite being the defending world champions, Australia are separated from Bangladesh by just seven points.

With a number of their top stars calling it a day and the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner serving suspensions, the five-time world champions are making do with whatever names they have at their disposal and are certainly nowhere close to the legacy set by their predecessors.

But this is a situation Australian legend Adam Gilchrist feels the cricketers should make the best use of.

“Don’t waste a crisis. There’s plenty of positive opportunity to come out of this,” the former wicketkeeper-batsman was quoted as saying by channel 1 News Now.

“There’s certainly a talent pool of cricketers in this country that is good enough to compete on the international stage. With the talent pool we have, the infrastructure we have, the learnings from the fallout of this disastrous seven or eight months... the opportunity is there now for it to progress. I don’t see any reason why it needs to bottom out any further.”

IMPROVE RANKING

Australia will have an opportunity to improve their rankings though when they take on South Africa at home with the threematch ODI series getting underway at Perth on Sunday. Australia’s recent record has been dismal — having lost 16 of the last 18 ODIs.

Although there have been calls for reducing the bans on Warner and Smith, there has been no change of heart from Cricket Australia.

Gilchrist, nonetheless, exuded confidence and backed the team to do well.

“On paper, with or without Steve Smith and David Warner in one-day cricket, we have got a world-class line-up that should be able to compete with all the other teams in the world,” Gilchrist said.

‘WE’RE NOT MATES’

The situation has, however, created a different sort of a worry for former fast bowler Mitchell Johnson.

With the ball tampering saga tarnishing the reputation of the Australian side, Johnson fears that the current lot of cricketers might pose to be a friendlier lot against the opposition, something that he doesn’t endorse.

“At the end of my career I definitely felt like it was getting a bit too friendly,” Johnson was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald.

“You couldn’t stare at the batsman, you’d always get told off. I’d definitely be getting a yellow card if I was out there these days.

“It’s gamesmanship. You need to be in the face of the batsman. There’s that bravado.

“I never liked guys talking to the batsman and being all friendly. I’ve actually told Nathan Lyon off before because he did it. I said, ‘What are you doing, we’re not mates’.

The fallout of this disastrous seven or eight months... the opportunity is there now for it to progress. ADAM GILCHRIST, On state of Aus cricket