Ready for Australia to embrace pressure
World Cup-winning captain Allan Border has urged the Australian team not to be deterred by the expectations of the fans in the ICC World Cup. Australia last co-hosted a World Cup in 1992 where the team failed to go beyond the first round. Even though the Aussie team is going into the 2015 edition as red-hot favourites, experts have suggested that playing in front of home fans may just bring undue pressure and affect the team. Border, who led Australia to their first World Cup triumph way back in 1987, believes the team will do well to understand the importance of embracing pressure. Everyone's talking about playing at home that it's a very difficult situation, the extra pressure and expectation. Because it will help you in tight situations, when the crowd's in your corner it will make a difference.
Australia were one of the favourites in the 1992 edition but lost four out of eight games to embarrass themselves. Craig McDermott, who was part of that side as well as the victorious team the previous edition, laid the blame on overconfidence and advised the current bunch to avoid it at all cost.A home series brings one more thing, and that's pressure.Whether we're ranked one or two, whatever it happens to be at the time, will bring extra pressure like we had in '92.
We might have been a little bit complacent thinking we were a good side and had been successful for that period from '87 to '92, both home and away.
We'd just won a one-day series in England ... we probably just started off thinking we could beat the Kiwis.
Playing them in Eden Park on a low, slow wicket with Chris Harris who was just impossible to get away on a wicket like that, it was a real eye-opener for us.
South Africa in the second ODI at the SCG, they were so pumped up they caught us off-guard.We didn't recover from that. So from our side of it we have to be very prepared from ball one.
World Cup-winning captain Allan Border has urged the Australian team not to be deterred by the expectations of the fans in the ICC World Cup. Australia last co-hosted a World Cup in 1992 where the team failed to go beyond the first round. Even though the Aussie team is going into the 2015 edition as red-hot favourites, experts have suggested that playing in front of home fans may just bring undue pressure and affect the team. Border, who led Australia to their first World Cup triumph way back in 1987, believes the team will do well to understand the importance of embracing pressure. Everyone's talking about playing at home that it's a very difficult situation, the extra pressure and expectation. Because it will help you in tight situations, when the crowd's in your corner it will make a difference.
Australia were one of the favourites in the 1992 edition but lost four out of eight games to embarrass themselves. Craig McDermott, who was part of that side as well as the victorious team the previous edition, laid the blame on overconfidence and advised the current bunch to avoid it at all cost.A home series brings one more thing, and that's pressure.Whether we're ranked one or two, whatever it happens to be at the time, will bring extra pressure like we had in '92.
We might have been a little bit complacent thinking we were a good side and had been successful for that period from '87 to '92, both home and away.
We'd just won a one-day series in England ... we probably just started off thinking we could beat the Kiwis.
Playing them in Eden Park on a low, slow wicket with Chris Harris who was just impossible to get away on a wicket like that, it was a real eye-opener for us.
South Africa in the second ODI at the SCG, they were so pumped up they caught us off-guard.We didn't recover from that. So from our side of it we have to be very prepared from ball one.
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