“Tea and Biscuits in India” Vol.1
Australia spoil the Indian coronation to become World Champions
“Australia spoil the Indian coronation to become World Champions”
World Cup Final, India v Australia, 19th November 2023
19th November 2023
India 240 all out
Australia 241–4
Australia win by 6 wickets
When Australian captain Pat Cummins won the pre-game toss and inserted India into bat it was a ballsy move to say the very least. Contravening time held cricketing traditions and inviting your opposition to bat first, in a World Cup Final no less as well as a team looking unbeatable after winning ten straight games out of ten and on home soil backed by a vociferous Ahmedabad crowd of way over 100,000 was not only audacious, against the long held perceived wisdom of this grandest of all games but unconventional and fraught with repercussions and recriminations should the skipper’s decision backfire.
But this Australian team, led by the 30 year old fast bowler from Westmead in Sydney are anything but conventional.
There have been bizarre injuries inflicted away from the cricket field, a death in the immediate family of one of their prized all-rounders and as the team and larger squad scraped their way back into the World Cup after losing their opening two games they faced almost certain elimination or a tougher Semi-Final spot against today’s opponents when their freewheeling talisman dragged them off the canvas against Afghanistan with a double century for the ages and an innings that will defy your lying eyes forever more. Throw in a batsman completely out of form, a 37 year old fighting alley cat who tore around the outfield akin to a man half his age, veteran bowlers who were surely venturing into the cliched territory of playing “one tournament too many”, a batsman considered too slow and ponderous to play this shorter form of the game and an opening batsman who missed the beginning of the tournament as he recovered from a fractured hand and you can see why I had reasons for doubting this Australian team, and not after their opening two defeats but pre-tournament too.
I wrote off the chances of this Australian team as I felt they were a team in transition and between the ending of a once great team and the building of their next one. After watching the nucleus of this team, and a team that has been a larger squad of 14/15 players since way before the 2021 Ashes Series with England, you’d think I’d know better and that I shouldn’t have rushed to judgement. Please don’t mistake my discounting of their World Cup chances for misplaced patriotism for my home country or any bitterness regarding their two recent tussles for the safekeeping of The Ashes. I’m a huge admirer of the batting prowess of David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne as well as the incredible bowling skills of their trio of fast bowling greats Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. My self-published books “Ashes to Ashes” and “The Spirit of Cricket” (available via www.amazon.com) are testament to this. I watch cricket objectively, obsessively and for the love of this grandest of all games and in the spirit of my parents who introduced me to the wonders of leather on willow over four decades ago. I just saw a team that was past its peak and on the downward curve before their inevitable rise once more and how wrong could I be!
Today the World Test Champions and custodians of that precious urn of cricketing ashes became World Cup winners for the sixth time, and that 37 year old fighting alley cat from Paddington near Sydney raced around the outfield once more saving vital runs, Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc snagged seven Indian wickets between them and, when on the cusp of severe trouble at 47–3 and over 100,000 partisan Indian cricket fans baying for more Australian sporting blood, step forward the man who many (but not me) didn’t feel merited a place in the team and an opening batsman recently recovered from a fractured hand and a near 200 run partnership later, the World Cup was Australian green and gold once more.
You really shouldn’t write off an Australian cricket team and especially one as unconventional as this one.
So what of the runaway train that was India, the champions elect on their home turf and the team seemingly racing to their sporting destiny after a perfect ten wins from ten on their way to the Final? One can’t help but feel incredible sadness and empathy for a nation who regard this wonderful old game as a near religious event and for their captain Rohit Sharma whom I simply adore watching wield a cricketing willow. England tour India for a five Test Match series in early 2024 and I cannot wait to see battle recommence in cricketing whites rather than the coloured clothing and “pajamas” as so sweetly described by my cricket loving mother. Shubman Gill is yet another wunderkind from their cricket production line with a hugely successful career ahead of him. Crowd darling Virat Kohli scored yet another half-century today to top the run scoring charts for this tournament and later accorded, in the most bittersweet way on a day of deep disappointment, “Man of the Tournament”. Mohammed Shami ended as the tournament’s top wicket taker. KL Rahul notched an invaluable 66 and spin bowlers Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav had impressive, if ultimately unsuccessful, World Cups. Led by Rohit Sharma and the seemingly ageless Virat Kohli, all of these Indian cricketing heroes will be gunning for England come the earliest of months next year.
But to the victors go the spoils.
Yet another “Man of the Match” display from Travis Head to add to his Semi-Final accolade of three days ago and his always impressive showings in Ashes battles with England. Described as a “Legend” by Australian captain Pat Cummins post-match, he also rightly acclaimed his entire team’s approach today as “Brave” and “You have to be brave to win a World Cup” before confirming they’d peaked at the right time and “This is a year we will remember for a long, long time”.
World Test Champions. Holders of The Ashes. And now World Cup Winners. A year to remember indeed! I heralded today’s performance on Twitter as arguably one of if not THE greatest “Away” wins in all sports.
But what else should I have expected from this unconventional team for the ages?
“Australia spoil the Indian coronation to become World Champions” also moonlights across pages 70 through 74 of my third self-published book on cricket entitled “Tea and Biscuits in India”.
"Tea and Biscuits in India" - Link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.