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In this cricinfo article, Peter English discusses one of the most topical issues in Australian cricket- the retirement of Warne and McGrath (and the imminent retirement of Langer and possibly a few others) and the introduction of young talent into the test arena.

Its a difficult situation for Australia because they have been on top of the cricket world for years- most people would say since the carribean tour of '95 when the West Indies were toppled. The pressure on the selectors and the players is huge- everyone is expecting no less than convincing wins every time they take the field. Thus there has always been a temptation to keep selecting proven performers instead of new talent- "to stick to a winning formula". Whats more, even the new players that have come into the test team have been old, with lots of first class experience- Lehmann, Miller, Hussey, Clark all began their careers at or after the age of 30. Ponting is the only significant exception in the last decade.

So now, with the upcoming retirement of the two men most responsible for Australia's domination of world cricket, there is debate as to what should done in Australia, and muted but excited cries of jubilation from the rest of the cricketing world. India stand to benefit the most as they will be touring down under next season, in what may well be the last tour for some of India's ageing players. Kumble is still the fittest man in the team at 37, so he'll probably continue on. But Tendulkar, Ganguly and possibly Laxman and Dravid are the right age and stage of their careers to consider retirement. What better way than to be part of the first ever Indian team to win a test series in Australia.

India's ageing middle order has given its selectors similar headaches to Australia. However, over the last years there has been a definite attempt to bring in the next generation. Yuvraj Singh, Kaif, Raina, Venugopal Rao, Gambhir and Uthappa have all been given opportunities in tests and ODI's, yet they've all been failures. Yuvraj Singh has been the best of the lot with a long run of ODI successes against Sri Lanka and South Africa last year. Kaif scored two tough fifties against Australia in the home defeat two years ago, but has failed to capitalize against weaker opposition whilst the others have not impressed much at all. So overall, India is desperately short of batting talent- the real reason underlying Ganguly's recall to the test team. In truth, India has been heavily reliant on Pathan's batting in recent times.

The next big hope for Indian cricket is Cheteshwar Pujara, the young opener from Gujarat who won the player of the tournament in the last youth world cup in '05. Unlike the average Indian ODI batsman who flashes at everything and scores the occasional hundred, Pujara batted with a maturity rarely seen at his age. He played the anchor role for India with many long innings with old-fashioned strike rates of around 70. Yet while he did this, flashy batsmen like Gaurav Dhiman did the big hitting around him. Obviously with only half a Ranji season under his belt, it will be a while before he becomes a real contender....

Anyway, I've drifted off the topic. The point is, there should be some interesting changes to both the Australian and Indian test teams before the test series next year. With McGrath retiring next week, India will certainly come here with a quiet confidence; whether it will be justified by their batsmen remains to be seen.