There are a lot of cricketers born with incredible natural ability yet many such talents are wasted because either they are not well nurtured or they don't have the attitude required to realize their potential. This is where i feel that the Aussies are streets ahead of the rest...it just seems to me that they want it more than any one else, they seem to always motivate themselves and always strive to maximize their potential.
If you look back you will see that the seeds were planted back in the days of Allan Border when AUS were nothing more than an 'ok' team. Border him self was hardly a natural talent yet still managed to achieve what so many of the more talented players were never able to. He set the example by playing through pain (played quite a few test matches with a broken thumb and overall played 153 test matches in a row) and demanded his team mates to show the same kind of spirit. I thought that really started the trend and AUS's future captains the likes of Taylor, Waugh and Ponting have continued that trend and they will continue to succeed through sheer will.This is where i really wish that theother teams can match AUS in the 'battle of wills'.
You're right fcxx. It was Border who has been largely responsible for Australia's dominance over the last decade. He taught Aussies how to be tough and how to win. He took a perennially underachieving team and got them to greatly overperform. However he was a vastly underrated batsman. He averaged over 50 and was facing a time where the WIndies were in their peak.
