5-0! Even the most patriotic Australian cricket fan could not have predicted such an incredible turnaround in his/her side's fortunes. In England, the home side triumphed 3-0 but the key difference was not overall quality but experience and determination at crucial moments - brilliant sessions by Broad here, Swann there big innings by Bell and Root - together with occasional well-timed weather intervention. There wasn't a chasm between the two nations, but perhaps it was a battle-hardened squad and, yes, home advantage which delivered the Ashes to Cook, Flower et al.
Advance a few months and to the other side of the globe, and that home advantage would again be a factor. Nevertheless, it was still pretty much the same England team which just a short while earlier had been the number one Test side in the world and proud victors over Darren Lehmann's charges. Australia were still relying on thirty-somethings with dodgy knees, shoulders, attitudes and the massive weight of media and fan expectations that sweet revenge would be wrought. It couldn't possibly happen, surely?!
But it did. Commentators, pundits and journalists have pontificated over culpability of the English. Is it Cook's captaincy? Is it just the failure to win tosses? Is it a fractured dressing room? Is it the whole England set-up under Andy Flower? To put it bluntly, Australia were heads, shoulders and moustaches above England in just about every conceivable facet of the game. Their only weakness was arguably in the top five batsmen, so often bailed out by Haddin and the lower order. Yet that top five delivered between them nine centuries. England's top five produced precisely none. Indeed, England's only centurion was the belatedly selected all-rounder Ben Stokes, whose second-innings 120 merely delayed the inevitable defeat at Melbourne.
In six out of ten innings, England failed to muster even 200. No England batsman aggregated 300 runs whereas for the Aussies all bar George Bailey did. So was it all down to the frailties of English batting and/or the illness of Jonathan Trott? I find it hard to accept that recent worldbeaters could all suddenly become useless. No, here the prime factor must be the brilliance of the Australian attack. As skipper Clarke says, it's one thing to have a strategy, but it has to be executed by all team members, and that was carried out to perfection.
Mitchell Johnson was deservedly named Player of the Series, his 37 wickets coming at an average of under 14, but it was the nature of those performances which destroyed English confidence from day one. Fearsome pace, uncompromising attitude and excellent use of the short ball, seam and bounce all did for Cook and co. At first England squealed about the sledging, yet even some of their players admitted that they had done the same thing back in England so 'all's fair....' Australia also had weather on their side and a back-up team able to keep Ryan Harris's body together, David Warner focussed on his job and not extracurricular naughtiness, and everybody's eye on the prize. Johnson and Harris were ably supported by the dependable Peter Siddle, Shane Watson medium-pace and, for once, some accurate spin in the hands of Nathan Lyon. From nowhere, Australia have finally produced possibly the best all-round attack in world cricket!
On the other side of the coin, England's bowlers have slipped from their peak in spectacular fashion. Jimmy Anderson, labelled the world's best exponent of fast-medium swing, captured a measly 14 wickets at more than 40 apiece. Stuart Broad did at least achieve a 'six-for' and series average under 30. Graeme Swann's three-match haul of seven wickets at 80 (80!) not only embarrassed England but also caused the bowler himself to desert the sinking ship and retire immediately. Sydney gave the selectors the opportunity to blood Ballance, Borthwick and Boyd Rankin, as well as restore Bairstow to Matt Prior's once-impregnable wicket-keeper role, but all too little, too late.
The original selection of Rankin, Finn and Tremlett was surely flawed from the outset and the big men were barely used at all, even on pitches supposedly made for their pace and bounce. That alone does not explain the annihilation England suffered in every one of the five Test matches, or should I say mis-matches. It is right that Cook should feel bad about the result, and that a post-mortem should be carried out to cover the whole set-up. I don't agree that Flower and Cook ahould resign straightaway. Nevertheless, the new men at the top must be honest with their appraisal of the situation, from coaching selection and tactics to individual performances.
England will bounce back and have a great chance of maintaining their good record against India this coming summer. Meanwhile, Australia have leapfrogged them into third place and have a real chance of threatening South Africa's current status as top-dogs. Provided the old guard of Harris, Johnson, Haddin and Clarke remain healthy, fit and focussed. Both sides deserve a bit of a rest and it will be fascinating to see how each go forward from what has been an incredible couple of Ashes encounters.
