article_snippet: they story is a remarkable one – of swift, ruthless renewal and of the belief inherent in Australian cricket that they natural position is up there, not down here.
article_snippet: To watch they against New Zealand was to watch expectation thrash hope.
article_snippet: Australia self-belief cannot simply be transplanted into other cricketing cultures.
article_snippet: Michael Clarke was the impressive leader of Australia's equally impressive World Cup triumph .
article_snippet: No team could stop the Aussies claiming yet another World Cup, this time on home soil .
article_snippet: Australia lost 4-0 in India, David Warner swung for Joe Root, and Mickey Arthur was put out to pasture a fortnight before the Ashes.
article_snippet: While England creaked their way through a flattering 3-0 win that summer, convincing their that all was well with the world, Australia new coach Darren Lehmann was thanking God for a schedule that would give Australia’s new coach Darren Lehmann side a crack at instant revenge.
article_snippet: Not for the first time, we were reminded of a curious contradiction at the heart of Australian cricket: while they have always been engagingly good losers (better, in fact, than most), they are also deeply unlovable winners.
article_snippet: A meme doing the rounds used both this image and one of Brendon McCullum shaking Michael Clarke’s hand at the end of Brendon McCullum match-clinching 74 to compare and contrast the teams’ attitudes.
article_snippet: Even while the teams’re basking in glory, Even while they’re basking in glory should make Cricket Australia squirm.
article_snippet: Mind you, Cricket Australia wasn’t much of a surprise.
article_snippet: The immediate postscript of New Zealand’s win over South Africa in the semi-final was the sight of Grant Elliott (left) comforting the stricken Dale Steyn, like Andrew Flintoff and Brett Lee all over again.
article_snippet: Cricket Australia, on the other hand, gurned Cricket Australia way through victory over India in Sydney, with Mitchell Starc harrying Suresh Raina, and Warner applauding from the balcony after Mitchell Starc harrying
article_snippet: In a six-Test series, it made a sick kind of sense.
article_snippet: No Australian cricket-lover
article_snippet: Kevin Pietersen (left) celebrated Australia's World Cup win with pal James Faulkner .
article_snippet: It’s easy to forget there were two Australian captains at the World Cup: Michael Clarke… and George Bailey, who played one game, scored 55 against England, and ceded both the armband and Michael Clarke place in the side when Michael Clarke returned from injury.
highlights_snippet: Australia lifted the Cricket World Cup after beating New Zealand in the final .
  
highlights_snippet: But Australia's conduct in victory is not to be celebrated .
  