2002-03 Annual R eport 2002-03 Annual R eport - Australian Sports ...

Back, left to right: Errol Alcott (Physiotherapist), Darren Lehmann, Matthew Hayden, Jason Gillespie, Andrew Bichel, Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Tim Nielsen (Assistant
Coach/Performance Analyst), Jock Campbell (Physical Performance Manager).
Front, left to right: Michael Bevan, Glenn McGrath, Stephen Bernard (Team Manager), Ricky Ponting (Captain), Adam Gilchrist (Vice-captain), John Buchanan (Coach),
Shane Warne, Damien Martyn.
VB SERIES IN AUSTRALIA, 2002-03
Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting enjoyed an outstanding
first home series in charge as he lifted the VB Series trophy
following a keenly fought battle against England and Sri Lanka.
The success helped to make amends for Australia’s failure to
qualify for the finals series for only the third time in history the
previous summer, as well as demonstrating the depth of talent
available to the selectors.
Australia was without three of its leading bowlers for much of
the campaign as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Jason
Gillespie all succumbed to injury. There were other fitness
concerns for fast-bowler Andrew Bichel, all-rounder Shane
Watson and batsman Darren Lehmann, who also missed the
last part of the tournament through suspension.
On paper those problems looked sure to stretch the home side’s
resources, particularly as the selectors were keen to rest other
key players, where possible, ahead of a demanding schedule
involving the World Cup and Test and one-day action in the West
Indies.
However, Australia was able to make light of its apparent
difficulties, thanks to the way other players stepped up to take
opportunities presented to them. In the end, it claimed the finals
series against England, thanks to a crushing 10-wicket win in
Sydney and a thrilling last-over success in Melbourne.
Key among the players who stood up to be counted was fastbowler
Brett Lee. Ponting called for greater consistency from
the player who had a reputation for being expensive as well as a
wicket-taker in the shortened form of the game. Lee responded
brilliantly, leading the attack in the absence of McGrath and
Gillespie, and growing in potency as the series progressed.
Lee finished as the top wicket-taker in the VB Series with 18
victims, and his devastating performance in taking 5-30 in the
Melbourne final not only won a game Australia appeared set to
lose, it also secured him the match and series awards. Form
like that was a prelude to his outstanding World Cup.
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Without Warne, who dislocated his right shoulder in the
second match of the tournament, Australia looked to Western
Australia’s Brad Hogg to provide the main slow bowling options.
The left-arm wrist-spinner, out of the international scene for
more than four years, was another who rose to the challenge.
Hogg was rarely collared by England or Sri Lanka and finished
with 12 wickets in the series. He was also brilliant in the field
and added to the depth in Australia’s lower order with an unbeaten
71 in the Melbourne final proving to be a crucial innings.
Brad Williams of Western Australia and New South Wales’
Nathan Bracken came into the squad to bolster the fast-bowling
stocks, and both played key roles in the series with Bracken
named man-of-the-match for his three for 21 against England
in Adelaide. Twenty-one-year-old Michael Clarke, also of New
South Wales, stepped in as a late replacement for Lehmann in
Adelaide and announced himself with a wicket, a run-out and a
nerveless unbeaten 39 to help defeat England.
With Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Ponting all topping
300 runs, Australia usually had enough runs to bowl at and, as
ever, they scored their runs in attractive fashion.
Australia’s only defeat of the tournament came against Sri
Lanka in Sydney when it conceded the highest score ever made
against it in one-day cricket at home, 5-343, a total made all the
more amazing by the way Sri Lanka had been bowled out for
just 65 by Australia A in Adelaide only two days beforehand.
For the first time since 1997-98, the tournament was not played
as one continuous series of matches because all three sides
had to be in South Africa for the World Cup at the beginning of
February. Consequently, they needed to fit in five of the 12
qualifying games in December, between the third and fourth
Orange Test matches.
Sri Lanka rallied after Christmas, having lost its first three
matches but, aside from its spectacular performance against
Australia in Sydney when both the captain Sanath Jayasuriya
and Marvan Atapattu scored hundreds, it rarely made enough
runs and lacked penetration with the ball.
VB Series in Australia, 2002-03