Back from the ashes - Aussie cricketers our latest comeback kings

06 January 2014 01:29 AM

Australians have had a proud history of coming back from oblivion. It seems the more you write an  Aussie sportsperson off, the more the cards are stacked against us, the more chance there is of something special happening. History tells us that Aussies will leave it until the biggest prize of all is up for grabs in the biggest and most memorable arena to make that surprised run to glory. We got reminded once again yesterday about that comeback spirit entrenched in the Aussie sportsman and women's DNA when the Australian Cricket team won back the Ashes in a clean sweep without even looking close to going down in a single test match. Unexpected? Initially the answer on everyone's lips was YES. After thinking about it a little more, well, maybe it's just part of our sports DNA. When the chips are down expect a great Aussie comeback.

There are many memorable examples of Australian sportsmen and women with their backs against the wall, only to come back and snap victory from the jaws of defeat. In 1996 Kieran Perkins was seen to be past his best. The ageing stable mate to Australia's best hope in the 1500m distance race Daniel Kowalski. With each qualifying round the dimming view on Perkin's chances of winning only grew stronger in the public's eye, scraping in through the semi-final by a quarter of a second  to be handed an outside lane. He waited for the biggest stage in the world, in the race that meant more than anything, the gold medal race, to spring out of the blocks in front, drive hard to get a good lead and then refuse to yield. He won the final to claim the gold by over 6 seconds. From nowhere he rose to the occasion, above the weight of commentator's predictions and an overwhelming lack of belief from the public, to prove he was a champion.

 

 

The race for the America's Cup in 1983 was another win where an Australian team was expected to bow out but rose to claim glory. The crew of Australia 2 had slumped to a 3-1 trail out of a best of 7 series against the might of the Americans. Facing the challenge of winning the next 3 races in a row after the American's  smashed Australia 2 by a massive 46 seconds in their last race and with the overhanging fact that no foreign crew had ever put their hands on the Americas Cup in 132 years of racing, the Australia 2 crew made it happen. They won the next 3 races in a row, turning the faces of the New York yacht club to the ground and making Australia the proudest nation in the world.

 

Then again yesterday we saw the ultimate comeback completed. Only a few months before, Australia were in the cricketing wilderness. They had just copped a 3-0 drubbing from the Poms in the Ashes series in England. Their coach was moved on just before it started and there were a lot of rumours about poor relations in the team. Watson v Clarke is one that comes to mind. In just a few months the Aussie comeback spirit kicked in once again. Not just a victory. That would not be emphatic enough to underline the true spirit we are talking about here. A 5 - nil white wash, and a true white wash it was. It's fair to say that in each test the Australia's won easy. Not sure if there was even a day in the 5 tests where you could say the English cricket team were the clear winners.

Within this comeback story there were other comeback stories playing out. The standout one was Mitchell Johnson, player of the series. The critics always had an opinion of Mitch. Lot's of good figures to support his amazing potential, but the discussions always ended around how much better he could be if this or that. The Balmy Army certainly picked on this point writing a song about his wayward bowling. But Mitch silenced those voices in 2014 and probably made the song obsolete for ever after claiming 37 wickets in the Ashes series, equalling the previous most wickets taken.

 

 

So what now for these comeback kings? The team that made magic happen in the summer of 2013/14? We can still only speculate, but from where I stand here on the hill of proud Australian supporters, the future is looking very bright.