Best of Both Sides | Ian Healy writes: India was the dominant team in the World Cup. But Australia proved to be the best team

I feel this is certainly the Indian generation of Australian cricketers. India’s influence on the current Australian players is huge. It’s almost like the South Africa rebel break-up in the mid-’80s or the World Series Cricket break-up in the late ’70s, which exposed Australian cricket to diverse cricketing inputs and cultures. Now, it is certainly India that is the greatest influence, because that’s where the money and excitement is coming from. There’s a new breed of respect and regard and love — real love — because they understand India better than past Australian cricketers.

This has also made the cricket-loving public follow this team closely. The timings of this World Cup were made for our fans, so the whole country got to tune in. They thoroughly enjoyed having games on every night. It was a busy World Cup for the players, but it was fantastic for the viewers. And then, our team did really well.

Everyone says, that when the knockout stage of a tournament begins, Australia feels at home. Let me tell you — we’re not comfortable in those scenarios. Nobody is. You have to work hard and be completely switched on. We train hard and we play hard. I’m sure many countries have that mantra, but in World Cups, we’ve been able to put it into place six times.

Right through the tournament, India was dominant and it is easy to understand all the talk of them being the best team in the tournament. But the Australian team knew of two or three chinks in India’s armour — among them, the fact that India played only five bowlers, had a long tail, and of course, its reliance on very experienced cricketers. So Australia had to get to the inexperienced ones quickly and they were able to do that in the final. This is why I feel this Indian team isn’t as good as the 2003 or 2007 Australian teams that went the entire World Cup unbeaten.

Australia had to pick themselves up after their first couple of losses. In this format, there was always going to be room for defeat and although they suffered two consecutive ones, they were against India and South Africa. They got the better of both teams in the knockouts by learning from their mistakes. It wasn’t like Australia lost to the Netherlands or Afghanistan. In fact, the near-loss to Afghanistan raised the anxiety levels of the Australians and got them going. And in the semi-final and final, the team had near-perfect games.

And this is where the players’ “Australianism” kicked in. The team knows what to do in World Cups. When we turn up at the World Cup, we really value playing for Australia. We value the Baggy Green or the Yellow Cap. So we always try to turn up. And a tournament does allow you to get galvanised, and go hard and that’s what we love to do.

This is a part of us. Not just in cricket, but across all sports.

We have grown from the point where European convicts were sent out to Australia and they had to work very hard. Then our soldiers fought in the First World War, and the Anzac spirit was fostered in our nation. I believe that the work ethic we bring to our sport comes from this history. We love our sport and we love our country and that’s a good combination.

Ours is a competitive world. When it comes to building on a talent base, there isn’t much to go after in Australia. So when we get talented players, we do the very best for them. There’s no secret sauce and it’s not easy. Australia has worked hard for its cricketing success and that was what the team did in the final as well.

The writer is a former Australian wicket-keeper who played 119 Tests and 168 ODIs for Australia from 1988 to 1999