well, what can one say, really, beyond f*****g well done England.after an unconvincing, but all the more impressive for it, 3-0 Ashes win earlier this year, the urn has been surrendered back to the Australians for the first time in, what, 5 or so years?
surrendered, i say. let me not undermine or understate the superb Australian performance, but of the 14 days it took Australia to win back the Ashes, out of a possible 15, only on day one of the First Test and half of day one on the Third Test did England look anything like they should.
surveys and that held in that fine country often come to the result that the Australians consider the Ashes to be the single most important sporting achievement for their nation; many considering it just the most important thing ever, irrespective of sports related or beyond.
it was always highly unlikely that Australia would take this series lightly. there was no chance they were going to risk losing four times in a row to England without one hell of a fight. and fighting they came.
England can mostly hang their heads in shame. the First and Third Tests were winnable. we had Australia down and out, but as soon as the first 5 or 6 wickets fell cheaply, our bowlers seemingly took the foot off the pedal, assuming the rest was a breeze. the less said about our "here, catch this" approach to batting the better.
Australia, meanwhile, take the foot off the pedal when across two innings they have about 1000 runs on the board and when they have taken all 20 wickets from their opponents. that is how you win Test matches, whoever you are facing.
as crazy as it sounds from a Yorkshire born England supporter, there is much pleasure to be taken from seeing Australia win this series. a weakened Australian cricket side means that world cricket is weak. the ease with which Australia lost the last home series, in 2010/11, followed by the way they could not gain a single Test win in England in 2013 all screamed that the cricket of this country was in decline. not only has a stop been put to that particular rot, it's fair to say they are back and ready to challenge the likes of South Africa and India in order to be declared the best in the world once more.
more pleasure can be drawn from watching a side take on the best Australia has to offer and losing by little than can be from watching a side knock over a weak Aussie team. of course i want England to win games, but they need to understand they have to work to win. i think they might get that now.
looking at the pattern above, there's every chance that we might lose the Fourth Test by less than one hundred runs. can we at least draw if not win the Fifth Test, since actually winning one seems beyond them? it remains to be seen how they respond to this.
congratulations Australia, best of luck retaining that most prized of possessions.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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