Defeats of the national cricket team, not only by England but by the international whipping boys of Bangladesh, have prompted a mood of national hand-wringing.
The gloom has been compounded by a lament from Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, about the parlous state of Australian tennis and by a less-than-buoyant performance from the country’s once-invincible swimmers.
The debacles on the cricket pitch and the prospect of losing the Ashes for the first time since 1987 have struck home hardest, however. The alleged philandering of Shane Warne, the bowler, and an apparent late-night drinking binge by the all-rounder Andrew Symonds have added to the shame.
Pat Sheil, a Sydney newspaper columnist, summed up the despair after Australia’s trouncing last weekend by Bangladesh. “If it wasn’t for Michael Clarke (Australia’s star young batsman), I’d take a bottle of Scotch and a revolver and go into the library and do the right thing,” he said.
A stockbroker in the Lord Nelson pub in Sydney on Friday night was equally blunt: “Our cricketers are superannuated, self-satisfied old men who are overpaid, oversexed and frankly can stay over there.”
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Cricket Australia played down the significance of the defeats, declaring: “One week does not a summer make.”
But few are convinced. The perception is growing that sports traditionally dominated by Australia are suffering from a dearth of talent. The result could be a national crisis of confidence.
During the 1970s, Australia usually fielded 10-20 starters in the men’s singles at Wimbledon. This year it could rustle up only four. “It’s really not good enough for our country,” Hewitt said last week.
There is barely any more cause for celebration in swimming. While the women are doing well, the male squad is struggling to generate talent.
A symbol of the lassitude is the decision by Ian “Thorpedo” Thorpe — described as the greatest swimmer on earth — to take a year off and plunge into the celebrity lifestyle.
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Some believe the roots of the problem may lie in poor levels of fitness among increasingly obese children and the downgrading of sport in schools.
The Australian Institute of Sport has set up an after-school activity programme but results could take years. Meanwhile Australia is finding itself in the unaccustomed role of underdog.
“Australia does not have a well-developed sense of being a glorious loser,” said a spokesman for Tennis Australia. The Ashes may be the perfect opportunity for some practice.