Wello's Ashes Blog

The dream of retaining the Ashes is over for the England team and their loyal hordes of supporters, who came in their thousands today in the hope of a cricketing miracle. When England's last wicket fell, the Australian team hugged each other like long lost brothers giving a true indication of how badly they wanted to regain what they forfeited in England last year.

The first 90 minutes of the morning session saw a rather different mood amongst the Australian fielders, as Kevin Pietersen progressed in untroubled fashion and Andrew Flintoff launched into a gutsy attack on their bowlers, hitting Stuart Clark for 12 in one over and smiting Brett Lee over midwicket for a mighty 6. With 17 overs of the day gone and with England needing another 220 to win with 5 wickets left, the optimists in the Barmy Army started to talk of history in the making.

Shane Warne - who else? - had other ideas, and a beautifully flighted leg break deceived the England captain's flicked drive and spun into his off stump. Out came Geraint Jones, disrespectfully nicknamed 'The Club Pro' out here, under what could be described as a bit of pressure, having made 0 in the first innings and 0 against Western Australia a few days before that. Cricket being the game it is, he survived half a dozen or so balls before attempting to sweep a Shane Warne delivery which prompted the usual theatrical appeal from the crafty spinner. 'Shut up Warne you ----' (use your imagination) cried the Barmy Army only for the alert Ricky Ponting to notice that Jones's back foot had slid forward during the shot. His underarm flick at the stumps left the Kent keeper short of his ground and so he ends this game, probably the series, and quite possibly his England career, on an ignominious pair having previously set the world test record for going the greatest number of matches before recording a test duck.

The England tail fell quickly, allowing Australia to record a thoroughly well deserved 206 run victory. Though they have been tested at times this series, when the crucial sessions were there to be won, Australia's class and experience has seen them through. Their top 3 of Langer, Hayden and Ponting have over 80 test centuries between them and the bowling stalwarts McGrath and Warne have dismissed a combined total of 1250 test batsmen.

Such experience cannot be bought, and when combined with the intense desire to regain the Ashes after the pain the Australian team felt at losing them in 2005, it makes for a very formidable opponent.

A last word for the Barmy Army of England supporters who cheered their team to the end and beyond in true British style. An hour and a half after the game had finished, nearly 1000 England fans continued to show real Dunkirk spirit, singing their songs and applauding the England team who came over to say thank you. The Australians, who have no real singing culture in their sport, were simply astonished that fans of a team that had suffered such a heavy defeat, could carry on cheering so passionately. This show of defiance won them huge admiration at the ground today, and the sight of police officers and security men taking pictures of the army on their mobile phones and cameras is really the ultimate compliment.

Well done Australia, they played the better cricket and deserve to have the Ashes back...for a couple more years at least.

Wello