Warne and McGrath

It is too early to say whether warne, mcgrath etc. were once in a lifetime players or products of the Aussie cricketing machine.

I strongly suspect the former is correct as the current crop seem to me to be technically excellent but moderately talented players. The coaching system added to the nature of Aussie pitches helps in the development of good batting techniques as well as extreme patience and accuracy from bowlers. There will normally be a large crop of very good players to be picked from. But will they be as good as the 2002 team continually? I seriously doubt it. All this Aussie triumphalism about their cricketing prowess seems to me revisionist. But the fall which befell the West Indies when they were last in the position of Australia is, I think, unlikely to occur. More competitive test cricket, however, is likely over the next couple of years.