Brian Lara glanced across at teammate Andrew Flintoff and, with the big English all-rounder as back-up, decided it was safe to say it out loud: yes, Australia are vulnerable.
Such a bold statement would have been unthinkable in cricket parlance for a long time until the Australians lost the Ashes Test series to England last month — for the first time in 18 years.
Now the likes of Lara, Flintoff, India pair Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag, Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and South Africans Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock are joining forces in a World XI combination that are aiming to beat the Australians at home.
Australia have won the past two limited-overs World Cups and haven’t lost a Test series at home since 1992/93, when Lara helped the West Indies to a 2-1 victory.
But the Australians are ”most definitely” vulnerable following the loss to England, Lara told a news conference on Monday.
”I think at present they are wounded, after the Ashes,” he said.
World XI one-day captain Pollock admits his biggest challenge will be working out how best to use 14 of the world’s best cricketers in three limited-overs internationals on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in Melbourne.
Lara, who holds records for the highest individual Test score and the highest first-class innings, said the World XI have to approach the series with caution and work in unison, not as a cast of stars.
”We have come together after a week’s preparation to play against the best team in the world,” he said. ”The best players don’t win team sports — it’s the best team, so we must respect Australia for that.”
But players on the World XI can even up a few old scores, he added, ”by applying the pressure from the rest of the world, because that’s who we represent”.
Serious challenge
The Australia vs Rest of the World series — featuring three one-dayers at Melbourne’s Docklands indoor stadium and a six-day Super Test in Sydney — was conceived by the International Cricket Council to give the number-one-ranked Aussies a serious challenge after years of dominance.
The challenge now for Australia will be to stay competitive.
Since Flintoff inspired England’s stunning 2-1 Ashes series triumph, Australia’s cricket administration has been in damage-control mode.
Finding a team that can regain the Ashes in 2006/07 and then win a third consecutive World Cup in 2007 is now the overriding objective.
Allegiances to veterans are gone.
Opener Matthew Hayden was dropped from the one-day squad, Damien Martyn lost his Test place and fast-bowlers Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz were overlooked for both squads.
Coach John Buchanan’s tenure is under review and some of Australia’s cricket greats have criticised Ricky Ponting’s performance as captain.
Adding to its woes, Australia lost promising fast-bowler Shaun Tait and veteran one-day specialist Brad Hogg to shoulder and knee injuries on Monday.
With Gillespie and Kasprowicz on the outer, two uncapped bowlers were drafted into the Australian squads. Stuart Clark replaced 22-year-old Tait and Victoria state captain Cameron White, also 22, replaced Hogg.
Hogg and Tait are scheduled for surgery later in the week.
Australia ‘up for it’
But Ponting said Australia have recovered from the Ashes loss and are confident of beating the World XI.
”All the players are up for it — since we came back from the Ashes, all the talk in Australia has been about this series,” Ponting said. ”We’re looking forward to the challenge of playing the best players in the rest of the world.”
Ponting said Australia deserve their status as the top-ranked cricket team and the chance to test themselves against the world line-up.
”We’ve earned that right for our performances over the last few years,” he said.
He joked that the only scar he bears from the Ashes loss is from a cut on his cheek he sustained in the Lord’s Test.
”I think we’ve all had time to think about it. It was a disappointing result for us, but we’re over it now. It’s another great challenge ahead of us over the next couple of weeks. We’ll bounce back.”
Flintoff, who was voted player of the Ashes series with 24 wickets and 402 runs, expects to face a more motivated Australia this series.
”I enjoyed playing in the Ashes last summer and I’m looking forward to playing against Australia again — obviously it’s unbelievably competitive and it’s the type of cricket you want to be involved in.” — Sapa-AP