In It to Win It

Australia's leading cricket writer describes and analyses Australia's cricket supremacy over the last three decades - the players, the tactics, the controversies.

What is it about the Australian cricket team that has propelled them to the top of world cricket?

Australia's win in the 1987 World Cup in India surprised the cricketing world. There were so few expectations placed on the event that the ABC didn't even send a commentary team. But what was the factor that made this team special? Was it the Waugh factor? Why have the Australians been able to dominate the world game?

From his long-term vantage point as writer and commentator Roebuck is able not only to paint vivid match-by-match pictures of numerous successes and occasional failures but also to analyse the mental and tactical strength which inspired the long-term success of the Australian team. He puts the last three decades under the microscope, as he looks at the contribution Boon and Border, Waugh and Warnie, McGrath and Gilchrist and many others, have made to the Australian supremacy.

From the era of the Chappells and the early days of World Series Cricket to the best Ashes series ever, Roebuck casts his eye over both the hubris and the hurly burly of Australian cricket.