Goodbye Windies. Hello Australia

Continuing with my theme of comparing decades rather than individuals, I recall the 1990s as a period of significant change. It began with the retirement of some all-time greats but time stands still for no man. Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralidaran, Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram and Steve Waugh were just some of the new generation to dominate the ‘90s. Ian Healy took wicket-keeping to new heights but even his excellent batting at number 7 looks out of place amongst today’s glovemen.

Courtney Walsh’s fabulous career covered this entire decade too.His career went full circle from feared enforcer to the lone class act in a fast bowling attack that had none of the venom of his early days. And that was possibly the biggest power shift in cricket. Australia, sensing the weakness of the Reggae Kings, finally conquered the Caribbean fortress in 1995 and thirteen years later, they still hold the world crown in both forms of the game.

The Aussie domination can be traced to multiple factors, not least a talent pool that reaped the dividends of a strong domestic structure and the vision of the Cricket Academy. Top class players, battle-hardened and confident, kept arriving off the conveyor belt and were instantly ready for elite company. Imitation is definitely the sincerest form of flattery with most countries now replicating that ‘finishing school’.

The balance of the Australian team was arguably even more superior to the West Indies in their pomp because they had Warne. No pitch was now beyond them, even though India still defended their castle staunchly. Individual players too became supremely adaptable, performing at home and abroad, on green tops and dust bowls alike.

Australia also changed the way cricket was played. Scoring at 4+ RPO in Test cricket was now de rigueur and other sides soon followed. That legacy can still be seen today.

South Africa was back! How good it was to have another genuine contender in the field. They were immediately competitive and could easily have even won their first World Cup in 1992. Pakistan’s win in that tournament was a triumph of inspirational leadership and brilliant youth. Imran and Javed steering the ship whilst Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed and Inzamam Ul Haq looked nothing like each other but were bound by the common thread of genius.

Sri Lanka then changed the one-day game forever with their ambush in the 1996 World Cup. Their tactics still hold good today but now everyone tries to bat like Sanath Jayasuriya at the top of the order. It was a refreshingly simple but high-risk strategy – keep playing shots even if you lose early wickets and hope someone fires on the day.

Australia adapted better than most and conquered the world in 1999 but they did it with more conventional players like the Waugh Bros and Ponting who simply expanded their skill base. They were that good. Their duels with South Africa in that tournament will stick forever in my mind. Lance Klusener deserves a mention too.

Meanwhile, Lara and Tendulkar were phenomenal players. Their battles against the likes of the great bowlers like McGrath, Allan Donald, Warne, Murali, Akram and Waqar Younis made for compelling entertainment.

What was best about the ‘90s was that it made spin bowling fashionable again, bringing a new dimension back to the game. Have we ever seen so many ‘great’ spinners debuting in a single decade? We’ve already mentioned Warne, Murali and Mushtaq but what about Saqlain Mushtaq, Anil Kumble, Stuart MacGill and even the quirky Paul Adams? Young kids were suddenly captivated by this new art form and the tree is still full of young fruit.

One significant change that the ‘90s introduced was the phenomenon of spreadbetting. Born in London’s financial markets, its influence touched cricket with stunning consequences. It even had the power to take down captains and spawn cricket’s own mafia.

Despite this shadow, my memories of the glorious ‘90s still feature positive images of an Australian dynasty that took the on-field skills to new heights and dragged cricket to a higher plane. All of a sudden, cricketers needed to be athletes in every sense of the word. Revealingly, Australia did it with personnel who essentially had techniques that were built on old-fashioned principles that had stood the test of time. They did it consistently better than anybody else, from number 1 to 11. Not many other teams could regularly match that depth of class. Not many still can!