As I mentioned in my previous article, Australian cricket is about to undergo a major change. With the retirements of top players like McGrath and Warne, Australian cricket faced a great challenge. Having won the ashes, I asked if Australia had the depth to remain world champion.

Latest update: Australia has just been humiliated by New Zealand. In the first game of the Chappell-Hadlee trophy series, Australia not only lost, they were completely beaten, crushed, beaten and hammered. It’s been 20 years since New Zealand has had an open centuary position against Australia and at One Day Internationals Australia has NEVER lost by 10 wickets. This has happened now. It is true that Australia is resting Ponting, Gilchrist and Clarke, Lee and Symonds have injuries, but other international teams have also faced these problems.

England recently lost their best player in the Ashes series, Kevin Pietersen, but they still won the tri-series 2-0. It has been a long time since Australia seemed so fragile. Although their replacement players have fantastic careers for their home states, International Level shows the true champions. Playing in New Zealand on different fields than they are used to at home has shown Australia’s lack of depth. Both Lee and Symonds have yet to reach world cup certainty and Gilchrist is not in his best shape. One wonders if Australia can win the world cup in the West Indies. This is becoming a growing question mark. Playing fields that are not suited to the West Indies will only compound the problem, as will hostile crowds.

Therefore, Australia should be ruled out as a possibility. This would be a mistake. The true class is often revealed when it is against the wall. They still have the best hitter in the world in Ricky Ponting and great fielders, don’t write them off just yet.