Is this Australian Cricket Team the greatest in history?

Australia won the their third consecutive (and fourth overall) cricket world cup today pretty easily. They beat Sri Lanka by a D/L adjusted 53 runs and were dominant from the get go. Adam Gilchrist played one of the greatest knocks in World Cup history (and perhaps even in the history of ODIs) with a superb and ferocious 149. To bat with such panache and such glorious abandon at crickets most important final just speaks volumes about Gillys class and ensures his place in the pantheon of greats.

Australia were superb throughout the whole tournament. Not only were they unbeaten, no one even came close to beating them. I do not think we will be lucky to see a team like this again in our lifetimes from any country. Australia has crossed the cricketing rubicon. It is time for the other countries to just observe and learn.

Therefore as much as my heart would have liked Sri Lanka to win, I think it is time for me to shed the last vestiges of envy and nostalgia and just bow to Ricky Ponting and his eleven. This Australian team are not just great they are supermen. Never before in cricket has any national team been this good.

This is a dangerous statement....Some of you will posit (and if you do please do so on my blog :) that Clive Lloyd's West Indians in the 80s or Sir Gary Sobers 1965 side or Sir Frank Worrell's 1961 side or Sir Don Bradman's 1930 side were better....balderdash is what I will say to you in response.

If you look at the Aussie record the only logical conclusion is that Ricky Pontings men are the greatest side in the history of the game. Only pure nostalgia bordering on delusional romanticism can cause a knowledgeable cricket fan to come to any other conclusion.

That being said this Australian team will be losing many great players soon. Shane Warne has already called it a day and Glenn McGrath will never be seen in Australian colors again. A great dynasty is ending and the torch is being passed. Cricket like what we saw today transcends national boundaries. It was a joy to see these superb athletes play so well and with such confidence.

I will not bother speculating on whether Australia will still be dominant in the future. For now I just want to savor this moment.