Although the Australian cricket team first played in a match in 1877 against the English it came of age only in the match that it played at the Oval in 1882 and which subsequently gave rise to the Ashes. Later on this was the championship which went on to become the most boisterous rivalry in cricketing history. However, the Australian cricket team entered its most glorious period and transformed into a team game when the post-WWI period ushered in. The rise of legendary players like Don Bradman gradually transformed the Australian cricket team into the strongest cricketing team in the world. This was also the period when the Australian cricket team gained complete dominance over the English cricket team and excelled in both the areas of batting and fielding.
The Australian cricket team never faced any dearth of talent and the success saga of the representative team of the country even in the 80's when the team consisted such talents like the Chappell brothers, Dennis Lillee, Richie Benaud and Rod Marsh. But the performance of the team as a whole was affected in the absence of good administration and leadership. The skills of another cricketing legend Allan border was required in order to make the team deliver its best performance. However, 90's and the 21st century unarguably belonged to the Australian cricket team who have ever since never let down their supporters and continue to break records with every passing day. The team's success is credited to the brilliant team spirit that the team possesses and also the efficient captaincy of successive captains in the team. Modern-day talents in the team include Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, skipper Ricky Ponting, vice-captain Adam Gilchrist and the just-retired ex-skipper Steve Waugh.
Over the decades, the Australian cricket team has given birth to numerous records for the team as well as the individual players. As a team, Australia made the highest total in a Test match at Kingston in Jamaica against the West Indies in 1955. It was mayhem for the Australian players with 5 of them scoring centuries to take the team total to 758 for 8. The shameless of all team performances by the Australian cricket team was in a Test match in Birmingham against the British on May 1902. While the team has been able to score a victory by the highest margin in 2002 against South Africa in Johannesburg.
The Australian Women's cricket team is equally talented and has won 5 World cups. The present women's squad is captained by Karen Rolton with Lisa Sthalekar as the vice-captain. The coach of the Australian women's cricket team is Lisa Keightley.
