When All The Stars Fail To Shine ...

... there is bound to be gloom. And that is exactly what happened at the Telstra Dome.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Limited Overs Cricket is one boring game these days and seems to have lived its life. The odd great match like the Natwest Final this season here and there has kept the interest barely alive but that is soon likely to diminish. No amount of new rules like Supersubs and Powerplays are going to make it exciting. Add to that the stupid roof at the Telstra Dome and the whole charm out of the game is destroyed.

So to the game ... I think the main problem was not, as many suspected it would be, a lack of team spirit in the World X1 squad. They looked extremely commited on the field and took great joy in each other's successes. Where they failed was with the bat and I think the major reason for that could be simply lack of understanding of what role they are supposed to play. All the batsmen in this team with the exception of Dravid (and to some extent Kallis) are dashers for their own countries. And that is exactly the way each looked to play today. No one really got out to a great ball or anything like that.

Luckily, from Pollock's comments it seems that this team is really hurting and wants to come back with a venegeance. I hope they do. Otherwise the other 2 matches could well be as boring. About the only change I see that could be made to this side is to bring in Gayle for Sehwag - and I don't mean to single out VS in any way here but in a short series it is very difficult to give people extended run to find their form. And an important point we all seem to be missing here is VS is to some degree an overrated ODI player. He is great in Tests not so in ODIs as his records will show. So Gayle could be a handy replacement. Other than that, all it needs is to show some fight and this "team" will stand a chance of staging a comeback.

On the positive side, the bowling effort was pretty good. Vettori was outstanding. I have great respect for Vettori's bowling - quite contrary to what many people may think based on my insistence on Anil Kumble over him - but a) I insist on AK in the Test not ODIs and b) I think a spot in the World X1 should be a reward for performance and Kumble had done supremely well both recently and over his entire career. Anyway, both Vettori and Murali did a superb job and only Freddie was slightly off target. I was fairly impressed by Pollock's captaincy although he might have missed a trick by not getting the spinners on earlier (esp Murali) when Gilchrist was going great guns after the 10th over and delay the powerplay.

To the Aussies - well-played. You have demonstrated again that you are the top team in the World - contrary to what many people may say - definitely in ODIs.

Looking forward to the next battle - hopefully the night will be bright and that stars will exhibit their light this time round.