The Beginning of the End?
 

Like the title indicates, is this the beginning of the end for Australian cricket? With Damien Martyn retiring a few weeks ago and now Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath poised to announce their departure from the international game the strength of this current side is about to drop significantly. How long will it be before Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer hang up their boots and call it a day? While Australia will still have some fantastic players I don't think it's in any doubt that they will not be as strong as they have been for the past 10 or 15 years and they may struggle to remain the #1 ranked side in the world.

I hope that this will not go the same way as it did when Marsh, Lillee and Chappell all retired but I just feel with the nucleus of this current side being slowly ripped out how long will it be before we see the Australian's lose test matches and even test series again? Certainly with Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Lee and Clark they will still have a strong side but will the others that pull on the baggy green be able to step up to the plate and attempt to fill the massive void left? Will they be as dominant as they have been? Is this the beginning of the end?

No, I don't think it's the beginning of the end. The only area of the side that will really be lacking after the retirement of the current veterans is spin bowling. It might be part of a decline in the team, or it might even see a rejuvenated team that improves further, as we've seen with Hussey and Clark coming into the side recently.

I see it mainly as an exciting time of change in the team, similar to the switch that happened in the 99-01 period with Langer, Hayden, Gilchrist, Lee, Martyn and Ponting all coming into the side or coming good after a mediocre start to their careers. Those players are on the way out now, and new players are ready to come in. Can't wait to see how they go.

Incidentally, McGrath has not announced his retirement or hinted that he will from anything that I've seen. It's just Warne so far, and rumours.

I'm not completely convinced that McGrath's going either, but I see it similarly as an exciting time in Australian cricket. I'm not even depressed by it either - it's a perfect time for Warne to retire, still at the top - and what else is there for him to achieve, particularly given that he's not interested in playing the World Cup? Much better to go out like this than for the shoulder to start failing, or a patch of poor form, or a noticable decline. And he gets to have a home farewell.

Don't know where things will go from here, but we have some very promising pace bowlers both in the team and just out of it, and our batting should still remain very strong, even with the possible departure of Langer and Hayden. McGrath and Warne going will certainly be a huge loss though.

It also makes me think that England's chances of securing a lazy dead rubber test just plummeted.

My thoughts exactly. Also the interest is going to be reignited in a massive way, it's not just a dead rubber anymore, it's Shane Warne’s last game.

Can`t wait to see how all the new`uns go.

I doubt that Australia will fall from no.1 any time soon as they are far enough ahead in the rankings to survive a couple of average years and remain top. MacGill is likely to step in to replace Warne for the next couple of years until one of the many Warne clones we have coming through is ready to fill the void. Clark has already shown he can replace McGrath and we might see the selectors look to bring back someone like Gillespie for his experience. There is plenty of capable batsmen going around for Australia to choose from so it is unlikely that the batting line-up will become too unsettled and even Haddin looks a very capable replacement for Gilchrist. We will probably see the occasional test series lost over the next 5 years or so and some more inconsisteny but I doubt that Australia will be losing the no.1 ranking for a long time yet.

It might be the begining of the end, but they're still going to be an immense team on the curcuit. Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Clark, Lee, they're all good or great players.

Outside of MacGill who is next in line for the spinners job?

Will everyone stop mentioning MacGill! He`s bowling pretty badly at the moment. In saying that, there`s really no-one to replace him. Let`s go Windies style with four pacemen I say. :cool:

He usually bowls crap and his best 2 wicket taking deliveries are the long hop and full toss.

If Warne and Mccgrath retire simeltaeneously, Australia will be in a bit of trouble.

Could be any one of Cullen Bailey, Dan Cullen, Beau Casson, Cameron White or Aaron Heal depending on who improves the most in the next few years. They are all in their early twenties and not really good enough yet.

Obviously not the beginning of the end, but I think a few of the guys have understated the situation a tad. Let's state the obvious - given the strength of the Aus system, the new guys are still going to be high quality performers with a competitive edge that us English would kill to see. But to state the equally obvious, if McWarne do both go, then even the aforementioned Aus system isn't quite so strong as to replace two of the greatest bowlers ever to walk the planet without a dip in quality.

Aus may stay number 1, but that would owe much to standards elsewhere. No-one else is consistently turning in good performances, and you couldn't pick a side to take over in a year's time. My guess is that there will be no really dominant side in 2008 & 2009, but Aus will probably rule the roost again once the newbies are bedded in.

Yes because you get 198 Test wickets through full tosses and long hops.

There's just alot of them.