Australian cricket team deserves incredible adulation for everything they’ve achieved across last 12 months

As fun as it has been to bag England, laugh at their preparation and relish their refusal to accept that Bazball isn’t working, we simply must pay credit to an Australian team that has overcome every single challenge thrown that’s been thrown at them across the last 12 months. This Ashes series is just another reminder of the depth we currently have in Australian cricket and despite our regular frustrations at selection or individual players, we’re damn lucky to be watching a team that just knows how to win. If you’d told people leading into the third Test at the Gabba in December last year that Australia would select 22 players across 11 Tests during the next 12 months, including six debutants, most of us would have been worried. If you added that we’d also use six openers across that period, people would have been scratching their heads trying to work out who the hell we were picking. While we’re discussing turnover, you’d have to mention that the Aussies would only have our big four bowling attack - Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – for just four Tests together. Oh and Hazlewood would break down during one of those and managed only six overs. Now you’d be really worried. But if you knew then that despite all of that, Australia would lose just one Test and draw another, I reckon you’d be impressed. Now, we know the loss was a massive result. It was the World Test Championship final. But still, Australia has won nine Tests, drawn one due to wet weather and lost one. During that time, Australia has played at home, in Sri Lanka, the West Indies and at Lords for that World Test Championship final against South Africa. As fans, we can turn on the TV or attend matches knowing that our team will have a crack. Aussie fans have soaked up nine Test centuries, including four from Steve Smith, Travis Head’s ridiculous 123 from 83 balls in Perth and Josh Inglis joining the select club of men to have scored a ton on debut. Mitch Starc has turned the first over into must watch viewing when the opposition is batting. He’s taken a wicket in the first over seven times in the last 12 months. We now have to carefully schedule our days to guarantee we don’t miss his first over of magic. We have to watch Scotty Boland too. Ever since he took six wickets on debut at the MCG in 2021, there’s been this crazy aura around Boland. We know he’s not part of the big four, but we also know he would get a game for everyone else. So when he took 10 wickets in the match against India at the SCG last summer and was named Man of the Match, we all gave him a huge nod of respect. Then we watched as he got overlooked for the next five Tests. Beau Webster also lives with the reality that his Test form doesn’t guarantee him selection. The all-rounder played seven Tests in the last 12 months after making his debut in January. He averaged 34.63 as a batter, while scoring four half centuries. Webster also took eight wickets at an average of 23.25. Sorry dude. You still have to watch from the sidelines because Cameron Green is fit. How much fun was Sam Konstas’ debut? It had everyone talking. We were scrambling to watch him taking on India and thought the Aussies had uncovered a generational talent at just 19. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that the rollicking style he displayed against Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t sustainable, and he needed to go back to the Sheffield Shield to work on his game. But we will talk about that innings for a long time. And he’ll be a much better player in a few years. He’ll be back. Michael Neser has shown Konstas how important it is to be patient and stay ready. Neser is 35 and has been part of Australian Test squads since 2018. He’s played three times. But he just produced a five-wicket bag in Brisbane. How good was Alex Carey’s wicketkeeping while standing up to the stumps to Neser? Just superb. Jake Weatherald is filling Konstas’ position as an opener at the moment. He didn’t get to debut until he was 31 but demanded a game after being the Sheffield Shield’s leading run scorer last season. Australia has also picked Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Matt Kuhnemann, Todd Murphy, Cooper Connolly and Brendan Doggett for short periods in the last 12 months. Matt Renshaw keeps getting overlooked despite producing three tons this season in the Sheffield Shield. Australia bats deep. One of the biggest talking points during the last Test was the decision to drop Nathan Lyon. He’s now been dropped twice for pink ball Tests and we’ve been shocked both times. Why would any nation drop an off spinner who has taken 562 wickets? The answer? Because we can. We dropped Marnus Labuschange too. And Usman Khawajs is now under the pump. Same Old Aussies - Always Winning.