Australia vs England 5^th Ashes Test

So, it took 86 years for this to happen – a clean sweep in the Ashes. A bit surprising, given how mismatched Ashes contests have been in the last couple of decades or so, but there’s no doubt that this was the fair result, given the line-ups this time. And it was the feebleness of the collective English Spirit that ultimately was no match for inspired Aussie intensity.

Which is actually good news for England – at least they don’t lack in the talent department. Pieterson, Strauss, Bell, Collingwood, Flintoff, Cook, Panesar…they will all feature in England’s future, but with a captain like Vaughan, perhaps they will start digging deep again. Duncan Fletcher will soon be replaced too – and not a moment too soon, it would seem.

Still, to say that England were the number two side in the side, merely because they beat Australia at home last year, is a bit too much. Normally, judgments like these should be made on the balance of Home and Away tests, and England has had nothing to show there at all. They haven’t won an Away series in a long time, so we should let such claims to rest, just like we waited in 2001 when India beat Australia in arguably an even greater Test Series than last year’s Ashes. India did precious little abroad after that (more about that in the next post).

In the fourth test, with the Ashes still alive, the team that was 84 for 5 beat the side that was 101 for 2 by an innings and 99 runs! Nothing tells the story of this Ashes series better than this.

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