Sixteen Test wins in a row, 15 wins out of 15 in an Australian domestic season: Steve Waugh's men are used to going where no team has gone before. And now here's another little slice of history: they're the first Australian side to lose the opening two matches of the annual one-day triangular jamboree. This is no mean feat. The tournament has been played every year since the ACB reached a settlement with Kerry Packer in 1979-80: under various auspices (Benson & Hedges, Carlton & United and now VB), this is the 23rd Australian World Series. Messrs Waugh, Waugh, Warne and Gilchrist have achieved something not even their ancestors Shaun Graf, Rick Darling and Ken MacLeay could manage.

The one time Australia did lose the first two matches of a home triangular was in 1986-87, when they hosted both the B&H Challenge and the B&H World Series. In the Challenge - a breezy four-team, seven-match affair held at Perth to accompany the Americas Cup in Fremantle - Australia lost their first two matches, to England and Pakistan, and the third as well, to West Indies.

What makes this year's landmark even more unlikely is that Australia were coming off the back of 19 consecutive World Series wins. But they quite often start the proceedings with a wobble. Apart from last year - when they blew away West Indies and Zimbabwe in all 10 matches - the last time Australia won their first two matches was in 1996-97. They then lost the next five and failed to qualify for the final. You wouldn't bet against history reversing itself.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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