END OF THE ERA OF AUSSIES' DOMINANCE:AN OVERSTATEMENT??

KANGAROOS,a bunch of 11 odd guys being hailed by everyone in 2007 for winning the world cup thrice in a row.How could one not remember the papers carrying the photos of the austrailian great ricky ponting and his team lifting that icc world cup trophy and declaring that these guys will rule the cricket world for at least another decade..This run of dominance cotinued both in tests and one dayers till end of 2007.As figures suggest aussies had lost only 4 one dayers out of 27 they played and 1 test match out 12 they played from sept 2006 to sept 2007.
They tasted their first major defeat when they lost a test match and cb series to india in early 2008 after already losing to zimbambwe in t20 world cup in 2007.But the reason sought for this was the sudden retirement of some of the senior players and fatigue.This was followed by thrashing of bangladesh and west indies at their homes before in form aussies met india in sept 2008.This was the series that raised questions over the policies of the management of CA and ponting being an uninspiring captain as aussies were outplayed by quality indian side resulting in their conceding the test series 2-0 .
Punter praised india for their quality and admitted that they were the better side.
Before people could react to the series aussies caught the new zeland side off their feet by beating them 2-0 in two match series.
But aussies were still under scrutiny after symonds fiasco before a tough SA tour came up and unexpectedly aussies were beaten on their soil after 17 years and they were criticized for their poor squad selection.They started the third test as "underdogs".
If someone caefully observed this match would easily understand the point i want to make,on the fourth day aussies were 267/6 and then came a decision(this made me ricky ponting's fan) which showed how much faith and confidence did ricky ponting had in his side as he decided to declare the innings.This left SA with a target of 309 on last day as SA ended 4th day with 67/1.Aussies won the match and one could see the intensity in the celebrations.They went on to win next two t20 s convincingly and are 1-1 level in odi series.
I think its too early to pass a judgement about aussies as they r still not lacking in terms of quality and confidence their player have.They have a lower win-loss ratio in last eight months as compared to their previous years but thats the part of the game and i believe this side is still capable of beating any side in the world anywhere for at least few years to come.I also belong to the larger lot who don't like to see aussies winning but that doesn't change the reality!!