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Freezin, I reckon Hopes is the most unlucky cricketer in Australia. How he hasn't played more ODI's and even test cricket is a mystery. He obviously upset someone a few years back. When you think of how many duds have been given multiple chances by the selectors and yet Hopes is a true allrounder who delivers game after game.

How soon we tend to forget.

Cricket is much like football (Aussie Rules), or many other team sports for that matter. Sides tend to cycle up and down, with the down time being a 're-building' phase. Remember how strong the West Indians were in the late 70's to mid 80's and then had a batch of retirements. They never seemed to recover from that, even though they do manage to pick up the occasional series win.

Australia are currently going through their 're-building' phase following the departures of Langer, Martyn, McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist and others.

We've had our times at the top, time to cycle down to the pack for a couple of years until we get the formula right. Have a look at the Red Bull team in Formula 1 this season and then look at Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes etc. and you will see a cycle of sides going up and down.