"Looking back on the series, I think that ruthless edge was missing...and for one reason or another, this time we just didn't stand up."
"The Executives, the coach, the captain, the players and the support staff have to be held accountable for this disaster." "We have to have a new captain."
"We are going to take a deep breath without panicking. We're all disappointed and certainly some of our players under-performed."
"He's a waste of time because he can't coach cricket."
Harsh words indeed, but perhaps when you lose so badly people need to vent their frustrations. Except these comments were not made about England after they lost the final test of the the 2006/7 Ashes series. They all concerned Australia's 2005 loss, in England.
The four quotes above were made respectively by Ricky Ponting, Dennis Lillee, Trevor Hohns (Chairman of Cricket Australia) and Ian Chappell (about Australian coach John Buchanan), but they could quite easily have been made about England's recent performance. Such is the nature of international sport, where winners are grinners and the loser stands to be abused mercilessly for failing.
Without wanting to be seen as an apologist for England's woes in Australia - and having spent a small fortune following each morale-sapping match I'm not exactly inclined to do so - I do believe there are a number of factors which ultimately conspired to make anything England did irrelevant to the outcome of the series. Put simply, the Australian desire to right the wrongs of 2005 - which bordered on obsession - when allied to the class in the Australian team, was always going to be too much for Andrew Flintoff's young, inexperienced England side.
In 2005, Australia arrived in England aware that the home team were a much improved outfit but secure in the knowledge that despite their better recent showings, England's hopes would end in regulation defeat, as per the last 8 Ashes series. This view was further reinforced when Australia thumped England in the first test at Lord's by the massive margin of 233 runs. So, like a champion boxer who has dominated the first round of a title fight against a demoralised opponent, the Australian team understandably expected the 2005 Ashes would proceed true to form. This complacent attitude proved to be their undoing, and instead of submitting meekly, England rocked their opponents with an early punch in round two - the legendary Edgbaston test - which so surprised the Australians that, despite their desperate efforts to get back into the fight, they were never able to match the intensity of their opposition.
The criticism levelled at the returning Australians and in particular, their captain Ricky Ponting was unprecedented. 'How could you lose the Ashes, you're supposed to be the best side ever and you go and lose to a country who we thrash as a matter of course? You're not fit to wear the baggy green.' That was the kind of vitriol levelled at the Australian team - especially their leader Ponting - and therein lies the reason for England's annihilation in 2006/7.
As captain, Ricky Ponting felt personally responsible for letting his country down, and when you consider that wearing the baggy green cap of Australia holds the same aura as being an All Black in New Zealand, the motivation for him to put things right was incredibly powerful. This motivation increased during the series, when the retirements of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer were announced. For the other players and the retiring three, the idea that they should call time on their magnificent test careers on the back of successive Ashes losses to England was simply unthinkable - it could not be allowed to happen.
The desire to regain the Ashes was clear for all to see during the series. What was also quite obvious was the difference in class and experience between the two teams, which grew wider as the series went on. Before the first test, it appeared that the two sides were fairly close in ability but what was essential was for the young England team to make the most of any chances that came their way. And from the very first ball of the series, every opportunity England had to make a statement of intent was squandered: Steve Harmison's opening wide, Captain Andrew Flintoff making 0 in his first innings, the back up seam bowlers wayward spells.
The key to winning is the belief that you can win. With every missed opportunity, the England players belief that they could beat Australia gradually ebbed away. It's been said before, and I hate to pin the blame on one person, but the seminal moment in the series - in terms of it being a genuine contest - was Ashley Giles' drop of Ricky Ponting in Adelaide. With England having made 551 in their first innings, that catch would have left Australia 78 for 4 and staring down the barrel of defeat. It was the ultimate 'Oh no...' moment, and with it went the chance for England to get back in the series.
When England went on to lose the Adelaide test from a seemingly impregnable position, it ripped the heart out of their team and left them devasted beyond repair. Much has been made of the selection errors of picking Ashley Giles and Geraint Jones, two players who contributed solidly to the 2005 win. It's true to say that Monty Panesar might have helped England to win at Adelaide and certainly, it's highly unlikely that they would have lost with him playing. But that said, you only have to look at the two teams in the cold light of day to see that England never really had a chance.
Australia realised their 2005 deficiencies and subsequently ditched Simon Katich, Jason Gillespie and Mike Kasprowicz. Their replacements, Mike Hussey and Stuart Clark, not only equalled the best that the previous playes had to offer, they became the form players in world cricket. Hussey, with his immaculate technique and superb composure under pressure added more spine to the Australian middle order whilst Clark has bowled like a cross between Glenn McGrath and Richard Hadlee, moving the ball both ways from a relentless off-stump line with his zippy fast-medium. Despite the ageing of their senior players, the 2006/7 Australian side was undoubtedly stronger than the 2005 one.
Contrast this with the England team from the previous series and it becomes apparent that theirs was much weaker. Their two most experienced batsman, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, were both absent and this removed the capacity of the England top order to really hurt the Australian bowlers by scoring quickly since their replacements in the order, Ian Bell and Alastair Cook, could only really accumulate runs against the superb Australian attack.
England also lost arguably the best old ball bowler in the world in Simon Jones, and his replacements James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood simply did not cut the mustard. The 2005 victory owed everything to Australia's batsmen being under constant pressure from England's excellent four-pronged pace attack but in 2006/7, this didn't happen.
The absence of Vaughan's leadership was another crucial factor. In 2005, he clearly out-thought Ricky Ponting and, as Mike Brearley did with Ian Botham in 1981, managed to get the best out of the awesomely talented Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff's contribution to the 2005 win was the difference between the two teams, and the Australians were happy to acknowledge it. 15 months later, perhaps suffering from injury and a lack of form, the world's best all rounder could not reproduce the sensational performances of 2005 and his captaincy was at times poor.
That said, even if England had been able to put their ideal XI out at Brisbane, I still don't think the series' result would have been different against a now stronger Australian side hell-bent on revenge. The score may not have been 5-0 but Australia would still have won because they had better players. What would be interesting, as one supporter asked me recently, is what would happen if the Ashes started now, without the influence of McGrath and Warne.
England's last win in Australia was at Sydney in 2003 when neither McGrath or Warne played and in the 2005 series, the Edgbaston and Trent Bridge tests went England's way with McGrath absent through injury. The amount of tests Australia have lost with these two all-time great bowlers in their side can be counted on two hands, such has been their influence. Whatever players Australia bring into their team to replace them, and with the likely loss of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist over the next few years to accompany Justin Langer and Damien Martyn, they surely can't sustain their all-conquering form of recent years.
This is the light at the end of a very dark tunnel for English cricket, and the rest of the world too. The battle hardened Australian unit of the last decade is undergoing rapid transition whilst the current England team, though currently beaten into submission, will only get stronger for the next Ashes series. Young players like Bell, Cook, Anderson and Panesar will be far more experienced in 2009 whilst the older crowd of Collingwood, Flintoff, Strauss and Hoggard will still be around. There is still a problem with the keeping position because Chris Read, for all his immaculate glovework, is clearly not a test No.7. If he is to play, he can bat no higher than No.8 and England should therefore take a leaf out of Australia's book and realise that if you have a top-class spinner - Monty Panesar for example - you don't need to play 4 other specialist bowlers, since any captain will want to turn to him before his 4th choice quick.
Australia did this for years by having a front line top order batsman who could also bowl useful seam - Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Greg Blewett etc. New Zealand do that now with Scott Styris and England, instead of picking a bits and pieces cricketer, need to scour county cricket for a test quality batsman who can be their 5th bowler too.
Despite the awful last two months, and with more pain to come in the one-day series, the future is still bright for English cricket. They will grow stronger whilst Australia will, as ex-captain Mark Taylor puts it, 'move back nearer the pack' as their star players call time on their international careers. The inquests have already started, and fingers are being pointed at Andrew Flintoff and coach Duncan Fletcher by many people. Before they completely vilify England's greatest current cricketer and its best ever coach, it's sensible to offer the explanation that nothing was going to stop Australia from regaining the Ashes and that come 2009, in the absence of so many of the players that have made Australia arguably the best side in test cricket history, things might be very, very different.
Wello
