Jasin wrote on Mar 27
th, 2018 at 8:31pm:
The surprising thing about the Kim Hughes and Allan Border eras.
Although they were primarily not great winners.
They were incredibly respected by other nations Cricketers.
Kapil Dev, Viv Richards and other 'greats' all refer to this era of Australian Cricketers as 'the friendliest'.
"The camaraderie of these guys was infectious ...to be such, even when being beaten soundly by us, was admirable."
Richards blasted the Chappell era as a bunch of 'racists' bigots who had a few tricks up their sleeves. Lillie, Thommo, Marsh, etc - a very obnoxious bunch of cricketers, whose main air of reconciliation after the game was joints or beers mostly.
Taylor/S.Waugh era? A bunch of nice guys like the Hughes/Border era - but they just knew how to whip your ass on the field too!
Clarke/Smith era: Bunch of 'celebrity' brats who get a pay rise out of cheating and are incredibly disliked by other nations for their 'foul' sledging tactics. A rude bunch of cricketers who 'think' they are winning.
Bring back the Hughes & Border days
Bring back the Taylor & S.Waugh days.
I have to say that I agree with almost all of your post. But to elaborate on the Hughes/Border era, they were going through a rebuilding phase. Marsh, Lillee, Thompson, the Chappells had all retired from Test cricket. I don't think I took much notice about cricket until 1985 when Border was given captaincy. It took until 1993 when Australia won the Ashes in England when the team was considered the best team in the world.
I can't recall when the decline occurred, but there was a rebuilding phase sometime late last decade. The rebuilding phase is still ongoing. However, it has happened in the worst possible way with the incoming Steve Smith and perhaps David Warner not treating playing for their country as serious as they have. Warner's twitter abuse some years ago showed his immaturity, when he had a few shots at I think journalist Craddock (unless I have my information wrong).
I can look at the current Australian team predicament as a "glass half full" situation. Perhaps we are in for a torrid time in the next 6 months until they get the right combination of a new time up and running. I will be interested in seeing how the next test match against South Africa. I am sure the crowd will be numerous for the first day's play, and very much giving the Australians hell. But I will guess that the moment we find someone mature to fill the role of Australian captain (not forgetting vice captain), we should be looking at a new team. I would be confident that in 12 months time, this whole fiasco will be long forgotten.