End of an era

As a young little kid when I started watching Cricket,I was used to watching an Australian attack led by Steve Waugh dominating every time they went on to the field.No matter who the opponents were Aussies were almost always winners.With the retirement of Glenn Mcrath,Justin Langer,Shane Warne and Matthew Hayden people started to believe that the period of dominance had come to end.However,youngsters who took their place performed equally well and Australia continued to do well.In the last two months or so,Australia have been consistently beaten,sometimes by Zimbabwe in a practice match,while many times by old rivals England.The English all of a sudden seem to have an upper hand against them as far as limited overs Cricket is concerned.It seems the era of Aussie dominance has finally come to an end.Many other teams like South Africa and England are moving towards the number 1 spot in Tests,ODIs as well as T20s.I still am an Aussie supporter though,because I love the professionalism that some of their cricketers had shown.Even now,Ricky Ponting's side might have lost the current ODI series against England,but the effort that they put in during the 3rd ODI was commendable.The way Ponting marshalled his limited resources shows once again what a superb captain he is.Yes,he has an arrogant side to him,but I guess that arrogance came from his side's dominant nature on as well as off the field.I definitely believe that if one has the goods to back up,then arrogance isn't completely wrong to have.
Having said all this,does not mean Australia are shit.I just wish to convey that they aren't as strong as they were 4-5 years back.They still are a good side with some great talent.Injury problems,Brett Lee's sudden departure from Tests are some of the reasons for the decline in their power,but,they are still a dangerous side.They showed that in recent T20 World Cup and I don't think beating them in Tests,particularly at home will be easy for England in the upcoming Ashes.It should be another wonderful competition.