Every Australian sports fan knows that there's nothing better than thumping our English rivals in the Ashes, especially after being beaten three series' in a row! Revenge is oh-so sweet, and Australia has been making the most of this celebration. The whole country has established a cult following behind Mitchell Johnson and his newly trademarked 'mo', and the critics have finally hushed about Pup's captaincy by sticking party blowers in their mouths. This is all great, but have we all been celebrating for too long?
Of course, after any team wins a premiership one season, there always comes that time where the celebrations end and the focus is shifted back onto preparing for the next season. Unfortunately in cricket, because the game has no proper 'off-season' where the players can celebrate and refocus, the players are effectively shifted from their glory and celebrations of one series immediately into a new one. Because of this, the momentum and confidence from the last series is still well and truly alive within the playing group, however this is where it can go one of two ways.
That momentum can be helpful in terms of building confidence - when the side is in trouble in the match, the team's capabilities can be easily be reassured. However if the momentum is so much that it effects the way the players play, then things can get very dangerous.
The first test against South Africa is a perfect example. Several players traveled over to South Africa early to begin their preparations while the one day series was being played back at home. However despite the fact that the team's full focus was on South Africa, there is no doubt that after such a miraculous and emotionally driven victory on home soil that the Aussie playing group's tails were up higher than ever before in any of their careers. In the first test, three Australian batsmen hit centuries while the bowlers restricted South Africa to 200 and 206 - Australia won comfortably by 281 runs on Day 4. An embarrassing loss for the home side, and those Aussie tails began wagging even higher again. South Africa, the country that the world's media had claimed would be the one team that would give Australia a run for their money, got walked all over.
However the tables turned in the second test, almost identically. Three South African batsmen made centuries, while their bowlers kept Australia to just 246 and 216. South Africa won by 231 runs on Day 4. It all changed in such a short space of time... and the question is, how?
Australia's spearhead, Johnson, only managed to back up his extraordinary 12 wicket haul in the first test with 3 wickets in the second test. Shaun Marsh backed up his 192 run first test (including his impressive 148) in Centurion with a pair of ducks in Port Elizabeth. The difference? The efforts in the first test match were disciplined and the achievements were earned. South Africa played a brand of cricket that Australia had played against them in the previous test, and that they had also been playing all summer at home against England. This second test saw a much more aggressive and determined South African side and, what seemed like, an unusually relaxed Australian outfit.
Though there is one Australian player who has kept his consistent aggressive form throughout both tests, and that's David Warner. Warner is known for his aggressive style of batting, and he knows that he plays best when he is in that mentality. With 115 in the second innings of the first test, followed by 70 and 66 in the second test, Warner is the single player in the Aussie dressing room with any consistent form. Don't turn your head to Clarke, not one of his last 11 innings have exceeded 25 runs. Haddin has only managed just 10 runs from three innings. And Rogers may have hit 107 in Port Elizabeth, but his three innings prior to that (1, 4 and 5) tells us it was a display of discipline and grit as he stuck in with Warner in a time of need.
So we ask the question, has Australia become a little over-confident with themselves? Have they taken the foot off the accelerator? Without the aggressive attitude towards the game and drive to take on the opposition, the Australian team does not look as intimidating. South Africa found the way to expose that side of Australia, and in the third test beginning on Saturday, both sides will be ardent and ready to show who really is the most fierce team in the world of test cricket.
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