Ashes To Unconvincing Ashes
I'll say it up front so you can boo and hiss and throw metaphorical stones at me ... England did not deserve to win the Ashes.
They didn't deserve to lose either, a draw would have been a fair result in my view. This was a very different series to that of 2005. During that heady summer, a better England side beat a vastly better Australian side by skill, guile and determination. The whole series was like two heavyweight boxers standing toe-to-toe, slugging it out round after round. It was won, not just by moments of brilliance - Harmison's slower ball to Michael Clarke and Geraint Jones catching Kasprowic at Edgbaston for example - but by long periods of pressure and thoughtful cricket such as Vaughan's century at Old Trafford and Pietersen's epic at the Oval, Simon Jones' long spells of reverse everywhere and Giles and Hoggard eeking out the best 15 runs you've ever seen from numbers 8 and 9 in the batting order.
On top of this, the atmosphere in 2005 appeared at least to retain some edginess despite the obvious mutual respect. I kind of liked that. This summer all seemed a bit too friendly. I suspect this toning down stemmed from the Aussies as their press has been urging their side to be less feisty for a couple of years now. I can't think why, they seemed to be doing pretty well.
This year's series was marred by a barrage of appalling umpiring errors. Really, not just one, two or a few, a barrage. What's more, the Aussies were on the wrong end of almost all of them. And more than a handful were some of the worst decisions I've seen in a very, very long time. I do not believe for one minute that there was any bias in play, just utter incompetence and, even worse, arrogance. I'm not talking about close LBWs that Hawkeye revealed after the fact. I'm referring to the several huge inside-edges given LBW, the catches that missed the bat by a foot and the LBWs that pitched outside leg. These were obvious to all, live. Even the third umpire got a few wrong and I'm not sure how that is possible, but it happened. The hopeless umpiring culminated at the Oval on Sunday with Billy Bowden's stumping decision against North. Yes, he got it right and North was short of his ground, by about half a millimetre, but how on earth could Bowden be certain beyond doubt, as is the condition laid down in the laws of the game? His finger triggered at such pace I was worried he might pull a muscle. The TMS commentators suggested there was a hint of arrogance in his decision, it's hard to disagree. Ricky Ponting was too classy to blame the umpires for his team's misfortune but I reckon the series would have turned out differently if the officials had been competent.
Talking of Ponting, whatever your allegiance, you have to accept that he is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. In fact the ICC all-time rankings rate him as the 4th best Test batsman in history. The booing he was subjected to at Edgbaston and Headingly was truly disgraceful and an embarrassment. Furthermore, every time he finds himself in front of a microphone he speaks with dignity and respect. I think Ponting is everything that is good about cricket: skilful, determined and tough, but dignified and gracious in both victory and defeat. No doubt he will face an aggressive welcome back home but I sincerely hope we do see him back in England in 2013.
I thought Strauss was equally dignified, and deservedly Man of the Series. He batted consistently well and showed true leadership. He should have been appointed captain in 2006/7 in Vaughan's absence (we may not have lost 5-0 if he had been) and again last summer when the latter stood down. Better late than never I guess. He's still a bit too defensive in the field for me but that's something of an English problem. Vaughan temporarily relieved us of that disease and hopefully, as Strauss gains confidence, he will get a bit braver.
Aside from Strauss, there were one or two notable England performances this summer, and notable to me requires consistency. Prior's keeping can no longer be considered suspect and he deserves great credit for such improvement, which can only be the result of lots of hard graft. Swann was England's best bowler and showed he could score a few too. Of course, Trott's dream debut cannot be overlooked but let's not get carried away just yet.
I hope England don't get complacent now like they did after the 2005 victory. That was a better England team than this one and they went on to get annihilated in Australia just 18 months later. And, despite winning that little urn, there's plenty to be concerned about. Cook, Bell and Collingwood all averaged less than 30 and while the latter's knock in Cardiff turned out to be decisive, it was pretty much his only contribution from 9 innings. Anderson, our 'strike' bowler, hasn't taken a wicket since the 3rd Test, despite having had 59 overs in which to do so, and the rest of the seam bowling attack looked pretty innocuous most of the time. Broad's spell at the Oval was great, no doubt, but I think he lacks composure and it wasn't that long ago that Yuvraj took him to the cleaners. I fear that despite his youth, we've probably already seen Broad's best performance.
Of course, we say goodbye to Freddie. He's been an inspirational player for sure, but his record shows he's a long way short of great. His bowling average is higher than his batting average, and only three five-wicket hauls and five Test hundreds betray a player who has not lived up to his potential. In this series he took only 8 wickets at over 52 and scored one half-century. While I concede the character will be hard to replace, I don't suppose that level of performance is.
The winter in South Africa will be an enormous challenge and if England come back with a drawn series, it should feel like a win. I wish them all the luck they enjoyed this summer, they'll need it.
