After golden ages

You could,till Wednesday,count on the fingers of one hand the number of England captains since the Bodyline era capable of boasting that theyd beaten their old enemy at home. Yet,early on Wednesday,Andrew Strauss joined their number,as his team closed,with a final flourish,a chapter in crickets most storied rivalry that would have been quite unimaginable half-a-decade ago. England has won three of the last four series; the magnitude of the turnaround being apparent when one considers that they hadnt,previously,won a series since 1988,when their current vice-captain and first Test double centurion,Alastair Cook,was three years old. How did the Australians,such world-beaters,collapse so swiftly into a team unable to find even a single batsman in their domestic cricket who could hold down a number six spot,or a single spinner worth the Baggy Green? Perhaps its because the Australians are emerging from such a golden age. The great problem with golden generations is that the glare of their talent blinds us to the weaknesses elsewhere. Once Lara,Ambrose and Walsh retired,their West Indies team discovered they couldnt win Tests without them. Once McGrath and Warne went,the Australians discovered they couldnt bowl teams out. In this Ashes series,the last of Steve Waughs golden boys couldnt find his form and,suddenly,the Australians looked ordinary.We in India have been privileged to witness our own golden generation. On Tuesday,V.V.S. Laxman showed once again,as he has three times this year,why hes crucial to Indias match-winning capabilities. Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan took Indias wickets; both are over 30,too. Indias team is now,justifiably,able to think of itself as world-beaters. But lets look at Melbourne,too,and remember that the brilliance of Laxman whose second-innings 96 was 58 runs more than the nearest Indian score,his own first-innings 38 will not be with us for ever. Our match-winners might soon go: Laxman,and Tendulkar,and Dravid,and Zaheer,and Sehwag soon after even he is 32!. Will we,too,like Australia,be stunned by what follows?