Australia are in familiar territory but they can't afford to have familiar results
The current generation of Australian men's cricketers have had the opportunity to achieve two of the biggest holy grails in their history in the past five years.
They had the chance to replicate the accomplishments of their predecessors, which left no worlds for them to conquer. The Aussies also enjoyed a dream start by winning the first Test in each of their last four series, achieving the perfect headstart to create history.
Alas! Things didn't fall in their favour beyond that. It was a story of familiar territory without unfamiliar results.
Their teams of the late 90s and early 2000s would have been remorseless after gaining that headstart instead of removing their feet from the opposition's throat. However, the current team has failed to do so on four occasions, under the watch of three different captains (Steve Smith, Tim Paine, and Pat Cummins), including once at home.
Tracing back to the first instance in 2017, the Steve Smith-led visitors buried India on a bunsen burner in Pune. The tourists had opportunities in all three Tests to do the unthinkable.
The two sides travelled to Bengaluru for the next match, where Smith and Co. had to chase a modest 187 and fell 75 runs short. The third Test in Ranchi saw Australia lose an opportunity to stack a formidable first-innings score, but even a total of 451 was not nearly enough.
It took a sensational effort to force a stalemate in the fourth innings and give themselves a real chance in the fourth Test. The caravan in Dharamshala saw a carbon copy script as India didn't spare their opposition and took the series.
Make no mistake, it was a sensational effort in a country where Australia hadn't won a Test in their last three attempts, especially with the inexperience they had. However, the 'what could've been' question ceases to go away.
India is the toughest place to win a series, but Australia rued letting it go despite having a genuine chance. None more so than Smith, who stood tall with 499 runs in four Tests at 71.28 with three centuries, including one on a minefield in Pune.
To have only one other centurion and Matthew Wade's batting average of 32.66 being the second-highest on the team clearly pointed to the lack of support crew for the captain.
Tim Paine creates history, but not quite the way Australia would have wanted
The idea of Tim Paine leading in the 2019 Ashes series was quirky. Besides a polished performance behind the stumps, he had nothing else to showcase, at least in terms of runs. The keeper-batter had done a respectable job in reinstating the respect of the national men's team, though.
However, Paine became the first Australian captain to suffer a humbling series loss on home soil to India in the previous year. The board chose to retain him as captain moving forward, but they needed tangible results and there was no better place than England to showcase it.
Moreover, Australia had their key personnel in Steve Smith and David Warner returning from a year-long wilderness. From the depths of despair at 122/8 in the first innings, a 251-run victory in England's fortress Edgbaston was the headstart that the visitors could only have dreamt of.
They held that 1-0 lead even after the second Test at Lord's. However, some disappointing results followed before the hosts drew level at Headingley.
Ben Stokes played an outstanding knock. However, some sloppy fielding and a poor use of a review aided what could have been England's version of the Edgbaston 2005 heartbreak.
A Test triumph for the ages!
#OnThisDay in 2019, Ben Stokes’ magical 135* and Jack Leach’s 1* powered England to one of the greatest victories of all time, against Australia, at Headingley 🔥 https://t.co/M1S1U9b1DH
Yet, a 2-1 ascendency after a tense victory at Old Trafford gave them the biggest hope of registering a series victory on English soil in two decades. Joe Root and his men, though, snatched victory in the fifth and final bout at the Kennington Oval.
Pat Cummins' brilliance with the ball yielded 29 scalps and Mitchell Starc ensured he gave his best in his only match. Matthew Wade and Travis Head were inconsistent, but showed promises and Nathan Lyon did what a spinner should. Marnus Labuschagne stepped up to the level like hardly anybody expected and Tim Paine showcased his captaincy smarts with occasional blips.
However, it was Smith, who once again stood tall with a superhuman haul of 774 runs in four Tests at 110.57. Who knows how much more he would have gotten had it not been for the concussion at Lord's?
While Labuschagne held the innings in Smith's absence at Headingley, he could not bat to put the game beyond England's reach as the latter would have done.
With a 2-2 result and the urn in the bag, Paine had accomplished what Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke failed to do twice. However, the 'what if' question flashed again.
Tim Paine's last dance as Australian captain
Australia, under Tim Paine, now looked like a comfortable bunch, sweeping Pakistan and New Zealand into oblivion in the 2019-20 summer.
With that, he sent a warning shot to India, who were to tour later that year to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Paine's keenness to beat India arose from becoming the first Aussie captain to lose a home series to an Asian nation.
It didn't start on the most auspicious note in Adelaide as the tourists showcased that they could slam a full-strength Australian team on the mat. That changed on Day 3 when the home side routed India for 36 and with Virat Kohli departing on paternal leave, a series sweep looked set on the cards.
However, an injury-ravaged Indian side not only outplayed Australia but outmanoeuvred them in the following three Tests. India's series victory, achieved after consigning the hosts to their first loss at the Gabba since 1988, was sweeter than their 2018-19 series win.
Tim Paine reflects on being outplayed by a disciplined and tough side.
Congratulations, India! 👏
#AUSvIND https://t.co/vSbYVvZIM2
Pat Cummins' haul of 21 wickets was the highest in the series, while Marnus Labuschagne's 426 runs was the most across both teams.
However, it hurt the hosts the most not to have Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith step up like they usually do. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood also failed to have the kind of impact Australia are used to.
The series loss affected their backroom staff adversely and made Paine's position untenable. Aside from having a modest series with the bat, the wicketkeeper's chirping behind the stumps coincided with his struggles as a keeper, none more so when he invited Ravichandran Ashwin to the Gabba to face the heat during the Sydney Test.
The rest is history.
Enter Pat Cummins as Cricket Australia boots Tim Paine out
Although Australia started as overwhelming favourites for the 2021-22 Ashes series, the change of guard just days before the clash was drastic.
Cummins was probably an automatic successor to Tim Paine, but it was the manner in which Cricket Australia decided to phase the Tasmanian out that was the talk of the town. All said and done, Cummins showed he was here to stay with a fifer on his captaincy debut and helped Australia retain the Ashes comfortably.
The sub-continent treble commenced with a hard-fought series win in Pakistan. Sri Lanka seemed a more daunting prospect, given Australia carried the scars of Rangana Herath tormenting them to inflict a 3-0 sweep. Yet, an air of encouragement wasn't so hard to come by as Australia had a superior and battle-hardened side.
The tourists registered an easy 10-wicket victory in the first Test at Galle, meaning they made their chances of losing the series nil.
Australia wouldn't see it that way. For Pat Cummins, another win at Galle was sending a message to India ahead of the following year's visit. However, Sri Lanka came out differently on this occasion, inspired by the country's political crisis that had flooded the cauldron with fans.
Dinesh Chandimal struck a double-hundred to put the game well beyond Australia's reach. The visitors crashed to an innings defeat after conceding a 190-run lead.
This was yet another instance of Australia squandering a chance of taking the series. It was exacerbated by their failure to bat big despite twin centuries from Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.
Time for Australia to prove why they are No. 1 in the longest format
Australia are here again. They will head onto the iconic Lord's Cricket Stadium for Day 1 of the second Ashes 2023 Test on Wednesday, June 28, with the English crowd displaying their hostility.
The win in the first Test at Edgbaston was not as convincing a win as the 2019 Ashes. However, they will be satisfied that it didn't come on the back of the herculean efforts of one man and instead required a team effort.
The aussies have been here before, especially in England. Since 2001, England haven't lost an Ashes series at home and did not suffer a defeat despite being 0-1 down twice. Australia will be aware of how lethal this new England team can be and their ability to put the visitors to the sword when even given a sniff.
The Baggy Greens cannot drop catches, fumble run-outs, waste reviews, or give away strong positions. They have a strong and well-knit unit. Should they fail to get the job done this time, both at Lord's and going forward, the World Test Championship mace they won this month might only be a facade.