In the Dark

It seems like yesterday that I was celebrating a famous England victory in an Ashes series in Australia. In fact it was a little under three years ago. In that series the difference between the two teams was primarily in the batting, with opener Alastair Cook having a particularly brilliant series. Now England captain, Cook has struggled with the bat on this tour. Yesterday’s dismissal, first ball, more-or-less sums up his team’s weaknesses. The batting has been fragile, their bowling ineffective and their fielding unreliable. A bit more resolve in the batting, a few more opportunities taken in the field and things might have been different. The truth is, however, that since the opening Test in Brisbane England have been playing like a side expecting to be beaten. Once you’ve lost confidence like that it’s difficult to get it back, especially with Test matches coming up in such quick succession. Australia took the initiative early on, and have been ruthless in exploiting it. In the early  hours of this morning, Australia won the Third Test in Perth to lead 3-0, and so take the Ashes having an unassailable lead in the 5 match series..

England had a good run of luck during this summer’s Ashes series in England – the weather getting them out of a couple of rather deep holes – but the Australian summer rarely shows such mercy on visiting teams, and England’s weaknesses have been cruelly exposed. I always thought England would have a tough time trying to retain the Ashes down under, but didn’t expect them to be so thoroughly outplayed.  I wouldn’t bet against a 5-0 whitewash the way things are going. Shades of 2006/7.

But enough of England. I would be churlish not to congratulate the Australians on their deserved victory. They have had a lean time for many years and I’m sure will enjoy the celebrations. There’s no doubt that the better side has won; they have trounced England in all departments. Well played the Aussies!

This entry was posted on December 17, 2013 at 10:43 am and is filed under Cricket with tags Ashes, cricket. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.