Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey
Where did Australia go wrong in WTC 2021? | Analysing why Australia missed out on the World Test Championship Final 2021
The World Test Championship (WTC), aimed at reinvigorating interest in the longest format of the game, has got its initial two finalists in India and New Zealand. Many heavyweights like South Africa and England to name a couple bowed out of the competition gradually. However, it is the ouster of the supremely prodigious Australian unit that raised the most eyebrows.
The Aussies have always been a country that prides itself for its supreme performances in the whites. They lay incredible importance to the ‘ultimate’ format of the sport and are at times even okay with sacrificing interests in the white-ball games for success in Test cricket. More importantly, perhaps their most critical key players in Steven Smith and David Warner had returned to the international team setup ahead of the WTC cycle after serving their respective suspensions.
Their campaign for the Test championship commenced on a middling ground, one can argue. They were immediately fronted with a marathon five-match Ashes in England after a disappointing finish to their World Cup campaign. However, Smith sprung life into the series by getting into action right from the word go and conquering one feat after another.
Yet, with the series in their grasp, Ben Stokes produced ‘that’ masterclass on the final day at Headingly that perhaps turned the momentum in England’s favour. The Poms went on to concede the Ashes to Australia, but the series eventually ended up finishing 2-2. The fact that Australia conceded 64 points out of a possible 120 in that five-match series never came into focus as the entire hullaballoo surrounded over them lifting the coveted ‘urn’ on English soil. This was the first Ashes series that ended up in a draw after 1972, and the repercussions of which Australia carried forward in their WTC journey.
However, slipping away points in a highly competitive Test series like the Ashes is somewhat of a given. Both teams push each other to the edge and someone is bound to relent at some point in time. It is just that teams might still need time to adjust with the fact that they can’t take any match for granted in the WTC cycle. Australia had already sealed the Ashes after a win in the fourth match of the series. However, the fifth game at the Oval carried equal importance and though Australia’s loss in that match was overshadowed with them lifting the ‘urn’, the result still bore significant importance in the larger scheme of things.
The Aussies then cruised over the Pakistani team in a two-match home Test series. They followed that up with a similar mauling of New Zealand, in a phase that also marked the emergence of Marnus Labuschagne. Approaching home tests in WTC phase are somewhat of a double-edged sword. On one hand, every team should take no less than a victory for a Test in their domestic soil, considering how foreign conditions often put visitors in the backfoot straightaway. Home games present the ultimate opportunity to teams in order to ‘statpad’ points and gradually better their place in the standings. Hence, though Australia’s five straight victories down under against Pakistan and New Zealand was commendable, it was of utmost necessity too. That is also because their feisty competitors in this tourney, like India, were doing the same back home.
Due to Covid-19, Australia ended up missing the tour to Bangladesh that could have very well furthered their chances of qualifications to the finals. However, they benefitted immensely with the change in WTC points system where the percentage of points won was given prime importance instead of the absolute number of points grabbed. With a success per cent of 82.22, powered by twin series victories vs Pakistan and New Zealand, Australia was in a powerful position to sustain their top spot run. Moreover, they had to play a home Border-Gavaskar Trophy which was another series where they could reap advantages of domestic conditions.
Also read: Does Australia know its Test Cricket strategy?
Having defeated the Indians convincingly in Adelaide, Australia set themselves for a potential whitewash. However, Ajinkya Rahane’s men scripted a remarkable comeback and how, coming back from precarious situations to down the Baggy Greens in their own backyard repeatedly. Firstly, they claimed a victory in the Boxing Day Test, then outstandingly drew at Sydney before triumphing in their series through a spectacular victory in Brisbane.
Australia had a fully fit squad at their disposal. Contrastingly, the Indians went on to lose players due to injuries in numbers as the series progressed. Yet, against all odds, India never backed down, tested the Aussies right till the edge before nailing the final blow through a terrific innings from Rishabh Pant on the final day of the fourth Test match. It was something outwardly, unreal, which the Aussies might not have imagined even in their dreams. Almost similar to Ben Stokes’ magnificent knock at Headingly in August 2019; and therein lay the reason behind Tim Paine’s men eventual inability to qualify to the finals of the WTC.
They did the best they could against Pakistan and New Zealand. However, when the relatively tougher opponents came knocking the doors, Australia just left a little bit more to be desired in the end. Victories in Headingly and Brisbane should have been a given. They slipped away from winning positions at the Oval and Sydney, too. In fact, they went on to encounter two of the most iconic Test innings of this century in the same WTC cycle, eventually kicking them off the finals of the championship! What were the odds?
The fact that they pulled out of test tours to Bangladesh and South Africa in the wake of the entire Covid-19 situation further asserts that their ouster from the race for the first WTC trophy was slightly a consequence of certain uncontrollable; coupled with some magical, generational knocks. Undoubtedly, this is not the best way for one of the top-tier test teams to bow out of one of the most prestigious tournaments in world cricket.
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
