Retirement benefits?

UMPIRE'S POST

The exodus from the Australian team may benefit India.

If we can nurse and preserve our old guard, we will have a shot at becoming the number one test team in the world less than a year from now. Well, at least, a shot at beating Australia, which is the way to being acknowledged as the best.

Towards the end of this year, India will face an Australian team that will certainly be missing Warne, McGrath, Langer and Martyn. Depending on the way things go "" and that includes the outcome of this year's World Cup "" it could also be without some others.

More than 1,250 wickets will be missing from the records of the Australian bowling attack. Among the bowlers, Lee will be the most experienced and Indian batsmen had trouble facing him only in his debut series in 1999-2000.

As seen in the 2003-04 series in Australia, an Australian attack without Warne and McGrath does not frighten the Indian batsmen. That was the series in which Lee earned a name for himself by conceding more than 200 runs in a single innings. In the return series in India, Australia could not have won the series but for Martyn's batting, especially at Chennai when all seemed lost.

The current exodus from the Australian team is reminiscent of the scenario of 1983-84 when Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee left to coach and commentate in one Sydney test. That had left the team doddering for years. Once again, there is clearly a gap being created by retirements, especially in bowling.

Among the likely replacements, Tait, Johnson, Cullen and Watson have been on the domestic circuit for at least three seasons without mounting a serious threat to the old guard, which is going out without being nudged. Despite a good Ashes, Clark has yet to prove himself.

Taking out Lee's 59 tests before the last Ashes test, the six viable options will have played a total of 17 tests by the time they square up against India.

However, more than the wickets and the runs, the winning ways of the players going out will be missed the most. Many of the lot playing the last Ashes test have been used to winning.

Indeed, coach Buchanan, who is also going out, and Gilchrist, who celebrated his 35th birthday last year, began their current careers with a record-winning streak of 16 tests. They have also won the last 10, and look poised for many more.

Will Stuart MacGill, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz get a recall? Will Cricket Australia see that as an admission that its system was not ready for the generation change? Is India trying to suppress a grin?'