Historical hope in Australia’s innings defeat
Malcolm Conn, writing in The Australian , says it’s difficult to believe an innings defeat to England can have a silver lining
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Malcolm Conn, writing in The Australian, says it’s difficult to believe an innings defeat to England can have a silver lining. But he argues Allan Border's sometimes dreadful team from the mid-1980s found one.
Such a scenario is not so obvious this time, after Ricky Ponting's team became the first Australian side in 24 years to lose by an innings to England, capitulating in Adelaide this week. England retained the Ashes in December 1986 by winning the fourth Test at the MCG inside three days to go 2-0 up with one match to play. Just 2 1/2 years later Border was holding up a replica of the Ashes in England after winning a six-Test series 4-0 with basically the same batting line-up.
In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck writes that not much is going right with Australian cricket.
Most of the wounds are self-inflicted. Supposedly gifted youth has been glorified and the hard heads have been pushed aside. It is not entirely the selectors' fault. The system has broken down.
After three solitary Test wins in Australia in 20 years, the correct feeling for an English person after a 1-0 Ashes lead has been established should be smirking schadenfreude or gloating triumphalism. But over the past few days, a most unworthy emotion started to brew. I began to feel pity, says Tanya Aldred in the Telegraph.
They have twice since 2005 had to put up with England holding the Ashes, but in neither case was the victory a rout. This time, it may be. If England win the next Test at Perth, they will have retained the Ashes before Christmas. Preposterous, but possible. What then to do with the pity? Remember it as the emotion most likely to rile an Australian and just go with the flow.
"I have never seen such a conclusive victory over Australia in a Test match. England outplayed them from start to finish," writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian. "Looking at the state of the two teams now I believe that England can win the series 3-0."
The only ground I can see Australia getting a draw at is Melbourne. If the wicket there is as flat as it has been in previous years then Australia should be able to bat out the match. But I think England should win the third and fifth Tests at Perth and Sydney. The only way I can see Australia fighting back in the series is if Ricky Ponting clicks and makes a big contribution as a batsman, simply because he is capable of scoring a lot of runs in a little time. That would leave his team with plenty of overs to try to work through this solid English batting unit. That is an outside possibility.
Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo