CRICKET:THIS IS not yet done. The scenes at the Melbourne Cricket Ground half an hour before lunch were unforgettable: a joyful celebration of victors and their supporters, vociferous and otherwise, and We Are the Champions on the public address as the team did their lap of honour.
England’s massive win was the result of a team performance as compelling as that which brought an innings defeat to Australia in Adelaide. Thus far, though, in retaining the Ashes, the team have reached the Hillary Steps of their ambition. The summit, actually to win the series, remains elusive until the final Test in Sydney is done and dusted.
England were caught napping in Perth through overconfidence and it taught them the lesson of level-headedness. The Andys, Flower and Strauss, will not let it happen again.
Australia were not beaten by a record margin, as might have been anticipated at the start of play, but the defeat by an innings and 157 runs, after Brad Haddin (55 not out) and Peter Siddle (40) had managed to add 86 annoying runs for the eighth wicket, was still their heaviest home reverse in 98 years, and the first time they have been beaten by an innings twice in a home series.
Ricky Ponting may have his moments on the field but he is an honourable and generous man in defeat. Inside he must be bereft. He is not yet the first Australian captain since Billy Murdoch more than a century ago to lose an Ashes series three times, but he is mighty close. When his career does come to an end, he deserves to be remembered as one of the game’s finest batsmen, not as an Ashes failure.
To win this match represented yet another triumph for Flower, Strauss and the management team who recognised in the Perth defeat not a gathering of momentum by Australia that would translate inevitably to Melbourne, but an intolerable failure of elements within their side to stay in the moment, as the management-speak has it.
England defeats and near-defeats in the past four years have almost invariably resulted in a resurgence in the following match. Quite how they manage it remains their secret, but there is too consistent a pattern now for there not to have been a strategical input. Turning disaster into triumph in the manner they do is every bit as impressive as achieving the heights in the first place.
This match was won by a return to the values that England had laid out before even they left for Australia. Bat deep was part of it. Create scoreboard pressure and the bowlers can do their work. In three of the four matches, England, in the second innings in Brisbane, and their only innings in Adelaide and Melbourne, scored 517 for one, 620 for five and 513. They are not going to lose matches with scores such as these and, if they come first time around, they have every chance of winning.
Leading on from that came a bowling strategy that relied on three pacemen attempting to take new-ball wickets and then bowling restrictively, and Graeme Swann filling a dual role of stock bowler and, later in a match as a pitch began to wear, the most testing wicket-taking spinner in the game.
Crucially, Flower recognised that placing such demands on his pacemen inevitably would result in collateral damage and a squad was chosen accordingly, both with seamless replacements in place if necessary through injury and tactically according to conditions.
The choice of Tim Bresnan for Melbourne – at the recommendation, without a shadow of doubt, of David Saker, the bowling coach – has been a masterpiece of judgment and a surprise to many who did not realise his capabilities beyond being a worthy one-day containment specialist.
Last summer, though, Australians themselves were commenting on the weight of ball he delivered and the surprising pace he generated. The speed gun suggested that, give or take, he was as fast as anyone in this match.
England had lost their control in Perth, egged into indiscretion by the sledging war. That the batsmen were unable in particular to cope with the bounce and excellent way the Australians used it was a concern, for it happened against South Africa at the Wanderers too: this is an area that will require much diligent work so that never again are they surprised or lacking in technique. But the bowling failed to pull them back into that match, with runs squandered they could ill afford.
By Melbourne, on a pitch that played precisely as predicted by those who know the ground, England won an important toss, kept their cool and, after the first day with a lead already of 59 and all 10 wickets in hand, were in the driving seat. Not for a second thereafter did they lose control.
The team can now decamp to Sydney today secure in the knowledge it is Australia, not them, who have selection issues. The home team are in a mess, with among other things an injured captain unsure of his future or whether he will ever score runs again; a vice-captain who cannot buy a run and, as heir apparent to Ponting is, it is said, neither universally liked nor respected within the side; an injured pace bowler; no spinner worth his salt except one whom Ponting will not countenance; a technically deficient opener; and a new-ball bowler who has managed only four wickets in three games.
In his post-match interviews Ponting conceded there was a great deal his players, and Australian cricket in general, could learn from the manner in which England prepared for the series and then played it. Whatever the outcome of the final match, Australia should gear themselves for a root and branch restructuring.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has poured resources into its endeavour to turn the England team into the world’s best. Flower wants for nothing, respects that and uses it wisely. That they are not top dog yet is indisputable, although the gap is closing rapidly. Strong challenges lie ahead, but they always did. First Sydney.
