5th Ashes Test: Clarke’s final victory but Cook’s Ashes

It has certainly been an extraordinary Ashes series. Not for the final result, but for the sequence of five one-sided encounters. Also, surely there has never been so few days of cricket played in a five-Test rubber, especially given the favourable weather most of the summer. Mind you, England fans were praying for a bit more rain on this Sunday afternoon with just two wickets remaining and well short of the follow-on target. However, the clouds parted long enough for Peter Siddle to mop up the tail-enders and give Michael Clarke a modicum of comfort after an awkward few months.

4-1 would have been a travesty, and even 3-2 was perhaps slightly flattering to England. Joe Root remains a beacon of talent for the home side but both Chris Rogers and Steve Smith outscored him across the series. Stuart Broad was the only Englishman to take more than 12 wickets while no fewer than four Aussies did so, led by Mitchell Starc with 18

The real difference between the sides was the pathetic performances by Australia’s middle -order. Michael Clark has been a magnificent run machine and adventurous captain, but he aggregated a paltry 132 from nine innings. Shane Watson was dropped after the Cardiff defeat, neither Marsh brother produced any score of note, Adam Voges managed a couple of 50s and little else, and there were no Brad Haddin heroics this time around.

Then there were the big match-winning bowling dramatics by England’s pacemen. Sometimes it takes just one big performance by one man to swing a game, and Jimmy Anderson, Steve Finn and Ben Stokes each delivered. And then there was Stuart Broad. Every year he seems so ordinary then produces one devastating spell. In 2015 it was that amazing 8-15 on the first morning at Trent Bridge. Matt Wood showed promise, Ian Bell saved his bacon at Edgbaston and Alastair Cook occasionally showed his charges how to bat in a Test match.

However, it was not the greatest summer for Gary Ballance (discarded after the Lord’s defeat), Jos Buttler and Adam Lyth. Following the New Zealand encounters, the Yorkshireman deserved his chance to last the Ashes series but he didn’t really convince as Cook’s long-term opening partner. Perhaps he should stay for the Pakistan series, if only because there are no other credible alternatives.

As for Australia, Clarke will be bitterly disappointed to lose the Ashes. Again! Nevertheless he will be missed. Smith’s arrival as the middle-order saviour must come as a relief, but who should occupy berths four to six? Chris Rogers has been a rock at the top since his rebirth for the Test team two years ago and now he has also called it a day, aged 37. He and David Warner looked an excellent partnership, their contrasting styles not harming their facility to get an innings off to a good start. Trent Bridge excepted, of course! Perhaps Michael Klinger could become the latest thirty-something to earn a green baggy?!

Mitchells Starc and Johnson still demonstrated the value of left-arm pace and swing, and the latter passed the landmark of 300 Test wickets. Josh Hazelwood took 16 wickets at 26, Nathan Lyon was a constant thorn in the side and Peter Siddle was almost impossible to score off at The Oval. I still don’t know why he wasn’t selected for the fourth Test but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He wouldn’t have made a difference in that crazy first innings at Nottingham, though.

Despite all these plus points, Australia contrived to lose overall and English cricket is enjoying the feelgood factor once more. Can they regain the number one position again? Well, South Africa may have something to say about that, and before that there is the small matter of the UAE, where Pakistan humbled England a few years ago.

Anyway, for a few months more, Cook and co can bask in the warm glow of Ashes success. ODI defeats probably won’t matter too much although given the ferocious criticism at the start of the summer, perhaps they should! Farewell, Clarke and Rogers. You’ll be hard to replace.

World Cup 2015: Australia make it five!

A shame that the final proved so one-sided because until today the tournament looked as open as any World Cup I can remember. Whether it was home advantage, extra tactical nous or luck, Australia made their experience tell when it mattered, ending New Zealand's magnificent march to Melbourne.

Maybe, too, the script was pre-typed for Michael Clarke to dedicate victory to the late Phil Hughes and announce his retirement from ODIs. Steve Smith has stepped into the breach superbly, with Shane Watson recovering some form at last. More remarkable was the work done by the physios to ensure the Aussie pacemen stayed fit throughout, and each of them played a part in the nation's success.

I felt that if the Aussies were going to win the final they had to dismiss both Black Cap openers cheaply. In the event, four players were out for ducks but none more significant than Brendon McCullum. He was brilliantly bowled by a 93mph inswinging Starc yorker, but not sure if anyone could have dug that one out. Guptill and Williamson fell before the scoreboard read 40 and, while Grant Elliott stuck around for another 80+ score, the quicks did their job and bowled out the opposition with ten overs to spare.

Southee, Boult and Vettori have bowled NZ into the final but, apart from Finch's caught-and-bowled for zero, there was to be no repeat of the group stage heroics. Michael Clarke can retire with head, as well as World Cup, held high, scoring 74 from 72 balls, although James Faulkner's 3-36 earned the Player of the Match award.

As for the World Cup itself, I reckon it was another wonderful advert for the 50-over format. The huge tally of sixes will please the T20 fanatics but there was plenty to enjoy amongst the bowling fraternity and also those of us wanting to see the nations like Ireland and Afghanistan mixing it with the big boys - and England - in 2019.

So who comprises my team of the tournament?

My openers are Martin Guptill and Shikhar Dhawan. The New Zealander's 237 not out against the West Indies was just the icing on the cake and his captain McCullum's four rapid half-centuries came close to edging out the Indian, whose 137 against South Africa showed that ODI batting is not all about slogging the ball over cow corner. Chris Gayle thumped more sixes than anyone but apart from that 215 he was largely quiet.

Kumar Sangakkara is an obvious choice at number three thanks to his four consecutive centuries, also taking the gloves, and AB De Villiers again demonstrated why he is one of the greatest batmen of his generation. However my number four doesn't represent one of the top nations and didn't even reach the quarter-finals. Brendan Taylor of Zimbabwe accumulated 433 runs from his six matches, including successive hundreds against Ireland and India. His scoring rate of 107 was up there with the best, too. He may have occupied the fourth position but I think Mahmudullah's first two ODI centuries of his career were too important for him to be left out of the team.

It wasn't really a vintage World Cup for established all-rounders but I'll make an exception for Corey Anderson. His wickets tended to be expensive but his 231 runs at more than a run a ball provide ample compensation, and gave New Zealand great impetus in the latter stages of a few innings.

Daniel Vettori hasn't played a lot of cricket in recent years but at 36 and recovered from injuries a-plenty, the former NZ captain was the top spinner of the World Cup. He played in all nine games, took 15 wickets at 20 apiece, conceding barely four runs an over. Despite the talents of Mitchell Johnson and Wahab Riaz, two other left-arm quicks led the wicket-taking league. Trent Boult's seam and swing were critical in the Black Caps' success, but Mitchell Starc's extra pace and place on the winner's podium won him the Player of the Tournament award despite both claiming 22 scalps.

Umesh Yadav enjoyed a productive set of games in the latter stages, pipping team-mate Mohammed Shami to the Eleven thanks to his marginally superior wicket tally. Both proved many people, myself included, wrong about the quality of Indian seamers, but it wasn't enough to beat the eventual champions in the semi-final.

In summary, hats off to Guptill (NZ), Dhawan (Ind), Sangakkara (SL, +), Taylor (Zim), De Villiers (SA *), Mahmudullah (Ban), Anderson (NZ), Vettori (NZ), Starc (Aus), Boult (NZ), Yadav (Ind).

Above all, hats off to Australia and New Zealand for co-hosting a successful tournament as well as providing the two best teams. ICC, take note: don't ruin a winning format!

Pakistan triumphant!

After last week's soggy defeat to Pakistan, I expected more of a fight by Australia. So what happened? They suffered a third heaviest drubbing in their entire Test history. Michael Clarke's men were beaten in every single department and the numerical margin of 356 runs tells only half the story.

I don't know how much of this was down to poor performances by the tourists but Pakistan seemed to have been playing with a new-found spirit and confidence they have so often been lacking. All that pent-up frustration was taken out on the number two side in the world in extraordinary fashion. This was epitomised by Misbah-ul-Haq. The skipper, well into his 41st year, has long had a reputation of being a solid, snore-inducing Test batsman, with s atrike rate barely above 40. So how did the spirit of a young Shahid Afridi suddenly occupy his body on the fourth day?

True, he was looking to rack up quick runs to set an impossible final innings target but he went on to equal the world record for a Test century, reaching three figures in 57 balls, including five sixes. Remember this was no makeshift bowling attack but one featuring Johnson, Starc and Siddle. With partner Azhar Ali also making 100 not out, the lead extended to a ludicrous 603! The more amazing statistic is that those two had also each scored hundreds in the first innings, a feat last achieved by a Pakistan batsman - just a week earlier! That was Younis Khan, who proceeded to follow that by striking 213 in the first innings of this match, sharing two stands of more than 180 in the process. Being dismissed second time out for a mere 46 must have seemed a miserable anticlimax were it not for the blazing antics of Misbah immediately afterwards.

But it's not batsmen who win matches on their own. Pakistan still had to take twenty wickets again but their spin attack once more made Nathan Lyon and part-timers Smith, Clarke and Maxwell look woefully inadequate on the Abu Dhabi wicket. In the match Lyon took 1-202 in 55 overs while Zulfiqar Babar finished with 7-214, Yasir Shah 5-91 and Mohammad Hafeez 3-51, while the seamers also chipped in with a few. Pakistan didn't even need their second innings fireworks as their first innings total proved more than enough to outstrip Australia's two efforts.

Chris Rogers was the only complete failure but only David Warner, Mitch Marsh and Steve Smith passed 50 at least once. Brad Haddin's winces were probably the result of his damaged shoulder but they could easily have been the response to seeing a once-formidable outfit taken to the cleaners so emphatically.

In addition to claiming a first series win over Australia for decades, Pakistan leap up to third in the ICC rankings. The Aussies remain one place ahead but a glance further down the table sees India stumbling to six, a whisker ahead of New Zealand. How quickly fortunes can change. Can Clarke and Cricket Australia comfort themselves with the notion of the World Cup being a whole new ball game? Perhaps. But if Pakistan and the mighty Misbah can bring the spirit of UAE with them Down Under next year, Saeed Ajmal or not, they could have a genuine chance of success in the 50-over tournament.

Pakistan off to a flyer in Dubai

There's been a lot of water under the bridge - and a lot of prison time served - since the last time Pakistan met Australia in a Test match. That came at Headingley when a side captained by Salman Butt and featuring other fine, upstanding cricketers like Danish Keneria, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir upset Ricky Ponting's tourists by three wickets. That was Pakistan's first win against these opponents since November 1995 and ended a sequence of thirteen consecutive defeats.

This week, Misbah-ul-Haq's men came to their adopted cricketing home of Dubai to face the number two side in the world - and enjoyed a convincing 221-run victory. Maybe it was the debut of someone called Imran Khan which evoked the spirit of probably Pakistan's greatest ever captain and all-rounder, but it was a useful combination of batting and bowling which did for an out-of-sorts Australia.

Michael Clarke had a miserable time on his return to the big time but Mitchell Johnson and David Warner did at least show some fight. Johnson and Siddle removed both Pakistan's openers for seven and Azhar Ali and Younis Khan had to knuckle down and rebuild the innings. Fortunately for them, they succeeded, laying the foundations for Misbah and Asad Shafiq to consolidate and then Sarfraz Ahmed to biff a run-a-ball century. Lyon and Smith took a pasting but credit to Johnson. His first-innings figures of 31-18-39-3 were astonishing for a strike bowler.

David Warner scored his ninth Test hundred in response but nobody else reached 40 as the Aussies subsided to 303 all out, 151 runs behind. Pakistan compounded their misery by declaring on 286-2 after Ahmed Shehzad and then Younis Khan reached three figures, the latter for the second time in the match. Zulfiqar Babar (aged 35 yet in only his third Test) and new boy Yasir Shah spun their side to victory on the final day, with only Smith and Johnson making 50. What Saeed Ajmal would have done we'll never know but Australia's spin duo of Steve O'Keefe (another debutant) and Nathan Lyon certainly struggled to extract the same from the pitch as the Pakistani twosome.

Clarke and Alex Doolan contributed only ten runs from their four attempts while Mitchell Marsh's red-ball debut in the green cap didn't exactly set the world alight. The Aussies need to restore their form in Tests quickly if they are to topple South Africa from their perch. Meanwhile, it's looking good for Misbah-ul-Haq. Another win next week would give them three in a row against Australia for the first time in more than three decades, in the era of Imran, Abdul Qadir, Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad. It will also mean a first series win since crushing England in the Middle East three years ago. Misbah is 40 now but, with Younis Khan's solid middle-order batting, he has done well to bring Pakistani cricket back into the fold. This may be a Test series but a defeat of Australia will bring renewed confidence going into the winter and the 2015 World Cup.

Advance, Australia Fair!

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.

2013 Test Cricket Players of the Year

For many, 2013 was about two all-time greats: Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis. Both took their bows from Test cricket, albeit in very different circumstances. The Little Master's departure was choreographed along the lines of a British royal wedding while, typically, the South African all-rounder signed off with much less fuss, a sedate century, his 200th catch and plaudits of cricket fans worldwide. But because neither really took the eye on the pitch, neither make my Test XI of the year. Indeed, it's not necessarily the best eleven players, either, and doesn't follow the ICC rankings. After all, Sri Lanka played virtually no Test matches at all. But for me the team are those who produced the most consistent run-scoring, wicket-taking, etc at the top level during 2013.

It wasn't a great year for openers. David Warner and Alastair Cook probably scored more runs than anybody else in this position but both had very mixed years. I have therefore plumped for two men currently in opposition and who played relatively few matches. Graeme Smith continues to be a successful skipper and run maker for the world's number one ranked team, South Africa, while Murali Vijay has made some decent scores against boh Australia and South Africa. He can also bowl a few overs to keep the attack leaders fresh.

Candidates for the middle-order are much thicker on the ground. Dhawan and Rutherford made sensational debuts last winter, Ian Bell had a superb home Ashes series, Virat Kohli finally demonstrated the maturity to excel at the most demanding form of cricket and Hashim Amla also averaged more than 50. However, none manage to squeeze into my team of the year. Instead, I have included India's number three, Cheteshwar Pujara. Besides amassing huge innings in domestic cricket, he contributed more than 800 runs and, at the time of writing, three hundreds for the national cause. First defeated, then victorious Ashes captain Michael Clarke was one of only two batsmen to compile more than 1000 Test runs in the calendar year (Bell being the other) whilst coping with the considerable mental pressures of leading his side in the most gruelling of series. New Zealand's Ross Taylor marked his return to the fold with centuries in three successive Tests against the West Indies. Then there's the incomparable AB De Villiers. Officially the best Test and ODI batsman in the world, AB has delivered almost a thousand runs at an average of 90+, whilst taking the gloves. He's hardly ever off the field of play!

Nevertheless, I want a specialist wicketkeeper in my team and Brad Haddin's combination of glovework and vital lower-order runs throughout the year, at the age of 36, fit the bill superbly.

The retirement of Kallis hits home the dearth of international all-rounders in the modern game. I can think of nobody in Tests capable of delivering match-winnng batting and bowling on any consistent scale. Vernon Philander may have the potential and Ravi Ashwin hit 124 against the Windies at Kolkata a few months ago. However, Ashwin earns his place for his spin demolition of Australia and the Windies. Will he be able to reproduce such form on away pitches, I wonder?

Watching him and his hapless team-mates struggling in Australia in the past few weeks, it is har to remember the impact Stuart Broad made earlier in 2013. He has by far the most Test wickets in the year (62), including five five-fors, and all atr an average of 25.80. When he's poor, he looks very average but when the modd and fancy takes him, he is almost unplayable. Even Jimmy Anderson was knocked from his pedestal as England's best bowler. The contrast with Mitchell Johnson is stark. His career having hit the doldrums after previous Ashes horrors, he stormed back with a vengeance to destroy English hopes and batting with a twirl of a new moustache and a renewed line in aggression. He claimed 34 wickets in only six Tests at under 18 apiece. His colleague Ryan Harris would have joined him but for a certain Mr Dale Steyn. He may have been displaced at the top of the ICC tree by Philander but he continued to exude skill and venom on the friendliest of batting pitches, amassing 48 wickets (with a day to go). Like Johnson, his average sits below 18 and his economy rate of 2.49 is one of the best around of the major wicket-takers.

If my Team of the Year has to play on a pitch requiring five front-line bowlers, then I'd drop Haddin for New Zealand's left-arm seamer Trent Boult, who took 46 wickets at 25 against a range of opposition, home and away. No Pakistanis make the XI but I hope their dominance of my ODI side of the year is adequate compensation!

To summarise, here is the Test Team of 2013: Smith (SA), Vijay (Ind), Pujara (Ind), Clarke (* Aus), Taylor (NZ), De Villiers (SA), Haddin (+ Aus), Ashwin (Ind), Broad (Eng), Johnson (Aus), Steyn (SA).

My overall players of the year, taking in all senior cricket, will be revealed shortly....

England surrender to rampant Aussies

Well, who'd have thought it? After the flattering yet nevertheless emphatic 3-0 win in England, a closer contest on southern hemisphere pitches was widely predicted. But 3-0 to Australia? After only 3 matches?! Just about everything that could have gone wrong for Andy Flower's charges has, while Darren Lehmann could happily have written this script for Walt Disney only for it to have been rejected as being too sugary and fanciful.

AFter his superb batting last time out Down Under, expectations were high on Alastair Cook although three years ago he had none of the additional responsibilities of captaincy. Of course, he hasn't delivered and his first-baller to a brilliant Ryan Harris delivery yesterday was he nail in the coffin of England's defence of the little red urn. The loss of Jonathan Trott to a bout of depression was cruel but losing the form not only of the normally reliable opener but also the formerly world-class Matt Prior and Jimmy Anderson in particular suggests it wasn't just England who have been responsible for the hammering in the past three weeks. What on earth would they have done without the 82-page list of dietary requests which so amused the Aussie public?!

Brisbane was an unmitigated disaster but maybe that was down to unfamiliarity with a reinvigorated Mitchell Johnson, a lack of practice and losing the sledging battle. Adelaide saw another huge defeat but of course that was down to a lost toss, Trott and a fierce moustache or two. At Perth it would all be different. All England's towering seamers, seemingly picked with the WACA in mind, would extract the pace and bounce required to scare the hell out of Clarke, Warner et al. So what happened? Neither Finn, Rankin nor Tremlett were even considered, and in came the barely-fit, medium-pace ex-talisman Tim Bresnan to give the side a 'better shape'. D'oh!! And to put the tin lid on it, the tiny 6 ft 5 inch Stuart Broad has his foot broken by a Johnson yorker.

Yet the Australians have been absolutely brilliant in almost every aspect of the game. The only slight negative has been Chris Rogers, although he, too, scored a half-century in the Perth second innings while at the other end, feisty David Warner flayed the once invincible English attack to all parts for his second century of the series. Michael Clarke's captaincy hasn't affected his batting in the same way as Cook's and even Steve Smith won the Man of the Match award in the decisive third game. What's more, when you need to go for quick runs and rub Pom noses into the dirt, who better to turn to than Shane Watson and George Bailey who delivered to perfection.

Mitch Johnson has been a revelation, of course, but Ryan Harris has shown what a world-class swing and seam merchant he can be when fit, and the ever-dependable Peter Siddle has put the hex on Kevin Pietersen to such an extent that KP can only hoik the ball unerringly to a fielder. And Nathan Lyon has chipped in, too, unlike the supposedly superior Graeme Swann.

The Aussie fielding has been far better, too, with the wicketkeeping of Brad Haddin particularly impressive, adding eight catches to his tally in Perth. The 36 year-old, in only his sixth year as a Test player, has also excelled with the bat in a mirror image of Prior's decline. He has accumulated 325 runs in five innings, passing fifty four times. Crucially his main contributions have come when the middle-order have wobbled early on during the first two Tests, and he has brilliantly added valuable late-order runs supported by Johnson, Harris et al.

Let's not forget that, for all the Aussie celebrations (and no pissing on the pitch unlike England's infamous drunken antics at The Oval) and Cook's downbeat press conferences, there are still two matches yet to play. Even though the Ashes are lost, Cook's side must fight to restore a little pride. Some of the grit demonstrated by new boy Ben Stokes in his 120 today would be welcome for a start. Jonny Bairstow deserves a starting place with the gloves, not because Prior is finished but because he is dreadfully out of form. The Yorkshire-Durham axis may give England's dressing room a boost, too, and I'm sure Bairstow could give as good as he gets in the banter stakes.

Melbourne and Sydney have been kinder to England on previous tours but psychological and physical recovery from the first three fixtures will be a tough ask. Cook winning the toss with an obvious decision could provide assistance but who would bet against England opting to bat first only for Watson, Siddle and Smith to rip through them by teatime? Just as the teams of Border, Taylor, Waugh and Ponting would have done, Clarke's squad will not rest until they have achieved a whitewash. This is payback, and humiliation of the old enemy - and the inevitable Test retirement of KP - will be the icing on the cake!

Centuries for Cook and Clarke - before they even bat!

In the history of Test cricket, only 56 men have played 100 matches for their country. So it's one hell of a coincidence that the next two will reach that landmark as opposing captains in the middle of an Ashes series. Of those 56, only six are still regular Test players (I discount Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh) so it's even more of a statistical irregularity.

Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke have reached the ton by different routes and in very different frames of mind. As he has readily admitted, the England skipper is desperately short of runs, for only the second time in his international career, and his side have been roasted in the first two matches Down Under. On the other hand, the Aussie is revelling not only in those victories but also in his rediscovered form with the bat, thumping two centuries against an out-of-sorts Pom attack.

Clarke made his Test debut at Bangalore nine years ago, marking the occasion with 151 en route for an easy win against Ganguly's India. Indeed, his record against the Indians is pretty impressive, culminating in that unbeaten triple-century in 2012, a year in which he aggreagated almost 1,600 runs at an impressive average of 106! Like most Aussies, he has played more against England than any other individual opposition, but his average in Ashes Tests is 'only' 48, adrift of his record against South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Some describe him as a flat-track bully but, while he has a superior average on home pitches, that is the case with most top batsmen and Englishmen this winter will be loath to call Brisbane and Adelaide as flat tracks perfect for batting!

Since replacing Ricky Ponting as captain, 'Pup' has experienced mixed fortunes but his side is showing signs of coming together, even if his bowlers tend to be held together by sticky tape and, in Mitch Johnson's case, a mean moustache. It's been a rollercoaster few years for 'Chef', too. Inheriting the Test leadership mantle from Andrew Strauss, who called it a day after his 100th game, Cook has overseen a dip from the No.1 Test status. The creditable 3-0 Ashes success was achieved despite less-than-brilliant performances by most of his side and some embarrassingly negative tactics. The cracks in that once formidable machine have been widened still further in recent weeks despite most of the first-choice men being present and correct.

Nevertheless, Cook reaches the hundred cap mark still aged only 28 (just), almost four years eafrlier than his Aussies counterpart. He, too, opened his Test account with a century in India, the first of 25 so far, overtaken in Adelaide by Mr Clarke. Both men are approaching the 8,000 Test run landmark although Cook's runs have come at a slightly lower average (47.2 against Clarke's 52.6). On the other hand, it could be argued that an opening batsman has a harder job than someone in the 'comfort zone' of the middle order. A number four or five is more likely to end an innings with an asterisk against his score and so it proves when comparing these two great batsmen.

Cook has played more Tests at home than Clarke but, unusually, his batting average in England (barely 43) is inferior to his figures just about everywhere else. His brilliant performances Down Under in 2010-11 and India last year proved he can accumulate plenty of runs all over the world. The man from New South Wales also has 30 Test wickets to his name, including an amazing 6-9 to beat India in that first series in 2004. Clarke heads the list of catches and also the scoring rate but he is unlikely to smash any world records.

Sachin Tendulkar (remember him?) boasts more Test appearances, runs and centuries than anyone else but Alastair Cook has racked up his statistics in a mere eight and a half years. Look away now, Indian readers, but provided he stays injury-free, the posh Bedford School boy with the same birthday as Jesus has a genuine chance of matching the Little Master in at least one of those records. That may be a tall order but, while he may yet hand on the skipper's baton within a few years, I suspect Cook has the temperament and talent to keep going for many years to come. The only thing between him and cricket legend status may well be the lure of outside riches, boredom or the mental stress of press conferences and the year-round strain of a top sportsman's globe-trotting life.

Michael Clarke will keep his job for as long as Australia keep winning, and the next World Cup could also prove a watershed. That troublesome back could yet bring his career to a premature end but he seems determined to soldier on and regain the Ashes, something Ponting couldn't do.

In the mean time, let's enjoy another fierce clash between England and Australia, with their two determined captains. Whatever their respective run tallies in Perth, I offer my congratulations to both men for surviving 100 Tests, no mean achievement.

Mitch sends Aussie confidence sky high

After yesterday's blog about the curse of Brisbane, Mitch Johnson's 5-42 was instrumental in maintaining the Gabba hoodoo for visiting countries. After ten winless Tests, Australia badly needed this victory and as a launchpad for Ashes revenge, a 381-run drubbing was almost as good as it gets. I say almost because back in 2002, the margin was 384 in favour of Steve Waugh's men.

That remains the tenth greatest winning margin in runs terms in Test cricket. Interestingly, four of the fifteen highest have come in Brisbane and eight in Ashes clashes. In 1928, an England side boasting Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Tate, Hendren and Larwood smashed the Aussies by an incredible 675 runs in the Queensland capital. A young Aussie batting at seven made his debut in that game but he was to be a thorn in the side of England, and everbody else over the next two decades. He was, of course, Don Bradman. At The Oval in 1934, he struck 244 and 77 to set up the second highest win of all time, by 562 runs.

Forward almost eighty years, and cricket is a very different game. Sledging, social media and hysterical hype have given the Ashes the feel of warfare, and the frontline trops have been happy to fire their share of verbal bullets. It's all a bit tame compared with the days of Merv Hughes, Rod Marsh and even Nasser Hussain's infamous welcome to Muttiah Muralitharan; "Here comes the f*!*ing cheat". Indeed, Michael Clarke was being perfectly hones by admitting there was "mutual respect" off the field, but he refrained from saying the same was true on it, too.

Of course, these are two experienced cricketing sides now very familiar to each other. Clarke v Cook, Pietersen v Watson, Broad v Johnson, Swann v Lyon, etc, etc. They may not share beers with each other any more, perhaps the odd punch. However, once the cricket started it was England who made the strongest start. Stuart Broad may be the world's most reluctant walker (apart from a few students I could mention!) but his 6-81 put the hosts in trouble before Brad Haddin and Mitch Johnson batted the side to respectability.

Broad himself said the pitch was actually great for batting, only for his team-mates to prove his words were just propagandist blather, sinking to 136 all out in the face of Johnson, Harris, Siddle and Lyon. Second time out, the restored David Warner continued his recent first-class form with an excellent 124 and Clarke put his back problems behind him with a brisk 113. Haddin made another half-century to set England 561 to win in two days. They didn't make it, and bogeyman Mitch was the pick of the bowlers combining consistent 90mph pace, aggression and not a little hostility towards Jonathan Trott.

No fairytale 100th Test for KP, nor a great personal debut for George Bailey but at least the latter could share in the post-match celebrations. Johnson was the rightful match award winner but all the bowlers could hold their heads up high. A stonking victory, and yet Rogers, Watson, Bailey and Smith could afford to misfire. England must hope that their own attack ups their game at Adelaide. However, recent games at the new-look stadium suggest the drop-in pitch tends to favour batsmen. Trott, Root, Carberry, Prior and co can therefore play themselves back into form. Cook is right to remind journos that there is time to fight back and retain the Ashes. However, the Aussies have the upper hand physically and mentally, so Adelaide will be a big test for England in the mind as much as on the field. It's one they can win and if so, they will take a lot of beating thereafter.

The curse of Brisbane strikes again?

It's 27 years since England last beat Australia at the Gabba in a Test match, and already they require a meteorological miracle of a stupendous rearguard batting performance by Cook, Pietersen, Root and Bell if the barren spell isn't to continue.

Back in 1986, Ian Botham and Graham Dilley set up a seven-wicket victory, with Chris Broad still there as the winning runs were struck. History tells us that Mike Gatting's England proceeded to clinch the Ashes that winter and that the tourists were to suffer for the next few decades. What happens in Brisbane usually indicates the Ashes series outcome, making a good start so important.

In 1990 the pace bowlers were totally dominant. No innings topped 200 but Bruce Reid, Merv Hughes and ultimately Terry Alderman did the most and the Taylor/Marsh opening partnership racked up the 157 needed to win inside three days. Four years later, Michael Slater and Mark Waugh took control on day one before Craig McDermott took 6-53. Taylor didn't enforce the follow-on, with the result that Shane Warne ran riot on a spinning wicket on day five.

Australia were in the driving seat in 1994, too, but centuries from Steve Waugh, Ian Healy and Slater again were not quite enough as thunderstorms and a flooded outfield wiped out the final session to save England blushes. However, the next two Gabba clashes produced Aussie slaughters.

In 2002, England won the toss for a change but, having inserted Waugh's team, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting made hay early on. Hayden struck another brisk hundred second time around and, facing a massive target of 464, England collapsed to a pathetic 79 all out thanks to Messrs Warne and McGrath. Ponting was in charge by 2006 but the first innings total passed 600 as the captain amassed 196, ably supported by Justin Langer, Mike Hussey and Michael Clarke. McGrath's 6-50 left Australia with a huge lead which Langer extended to 647 by the end of the third day. Pre-echoes of 2013 as England lost two early wickets but there was to be no fairytale fightback by Cook, KP and Collingwood and they lost by 277 runs.

Can they do better tomorrow....?

At last a trophy for Australia

It was maybe fitting that Shane Watson collected the last Man of the Match award of a long and gruelling Australia tour. For someone so derided, he bore by far the greatest workload of the various different squads, from the Champions Trophy warm-ups through the Ashes Tests, T20s and finally the ODIs. Of 23 games, he played in 20, accumulating over 1000 runs although only eight expensive wickets. Amongst those runs were some pretty special centuries, including that 176 at The Oval and this week's 143 at Southampton. That's one England's spinners Tredwell and Root won't forget in a hurry.

The highest individual score was Michael Clarke's memorable 187 at Old Trafford, and he demonstrated that you don't have to slog your way to thre figures. On the other hand, Aaron Finch produced one of the most incredible batting blitz in history at the Rose Bowl. 156 in 63 balls produced a world record for T20 internationals, but could he temper those instincts to make a Test player? Averaging sub-30 in 33 first-class cricket at the age of 26 suggests otherwise. George Bailey seems to be progressing from T20 specialist to very capable 50-over performer but at 31 his career is limited. Not as limited as Chris Rogers' but the latter proved he can do the business as opener, if only until someone else comes through the system, or Phil Hughes rediscovers the form of five few years ago. Steve Smith's debut hundred at The Oval did his cause no harm either, although his bowling is short of what should be expected of a genuine all-rounder.

Considering the Aussies' 0-3 Ashes defeat, it was remarkable how well their bowlers performed. Graeme Swann was the series' leading wicket-taker but Ryan Harris, just behind him, averaged under 20, a world-class statistic in a major Test series. Unlike Harris, James Faulkner was another very busy man this summer. His left-arm pace was quicker than first appeared and he provided useful late-order runs, too. Clint McKay's hat-trick at Cardiff was the highlight of his tour, Mitchell Starc had his moments and Peter Siddle was his usual reliable self in Tests, although perhaps less incisive than usual. Mitchell Johnson demonstrated in the past week that there are no faster bowlers in world cricket, and in the Southampton finale managed to combine that raw speed with control, menace and economy. The jury's out on Pattinson, Bird and Coulter-Nile but next winter's bowling line-up will probably be determined by who's fit. Nathan Lyon looks to have secured the spinner slot but if teenager Ashton Agar can rip the ball as well as he let rip with it in that record-breaking tail-end 98, he may mature into a rival.

Behind the stumps, Darren Lehmann and his team probably have it right with Brad Haddin playing the Tests and Matthew Wade in the shorter formats. It is probably correct for a selection policy involving watching how all the players perform in the Sheffield Shield. There are still several spots to nail down in the Test side, and it will be interesting to see whether David Warner returns to the fold to do battle - maybe that's not the best choice of phrase! - with all the England team and the Barmy Army can throw at him.

I'll no doubt return to the issue as the Ashes return gets closer....

Great start for Clarke and co

After the disappointment of the Ashes and, for fans at least, the Headingley washout, Australia must take great heart from today's ODI victory at Old Trafford. They absolutely dominated once Shane Watson joined Aaron Finch for the fifth ball of the innings. For all of England's insistence that this is a potential genuine World Cup outfit, it really didn't look like it today.

True, Kevin Pietersen was his usual aggressive self as England set out in pursuit of a formidable total, Eoin Morgan notched a steady 54 and Joss Buttler struck a maiden ODI half-century. Boyd Rankin conceded fewer than five an over while picking up the wickets of Clarke and Wade. The rest were pretty poor as the Aussies frequently reduced the crowd to silence, perhaps apart from the sound of crying into their beer.

Michael Clarke's eighth ODI century was a gem. No wild slogs, just splendid cricket strokes and clever placement, and his 155-run partnership with the quicker-scoring George Bailey put the game out of England's reach. The paucity of their attack was hugely exposed. While Rankin did OK, Finn failed to ignite, James Tredwell was off his game, and the three makeweights Bopara, Stokes and Root simply aren't up to carrying an international bowling line-up. Root should stay for his batting and Bopara has proved this summer already that his medium pacers can be a thorn in the side mid-innings. However, I have less faith in Stokes. He has bags of talent, albeit maybe a bit too much attitude, and his time will surely come. Nice to see Buttler make a decent score, even if the game was already lost. As a Somerset fan of course I am on his side but I'm not convinced he's a better bet as 'keeper-batsman than Bairstow or Kieswetter.

Compared with McKay, Faulkner and a rejuventaed Mitchell Johnson, English seamers are a distant second-best. Barring injuries, surely England won't go to the next World Cup without Anderson, Broad, Bresnan and Swann? As for the batsmen, Bell and probably Cook must be certainties on recent form, which means that there's a fair chance that none of today's bowlers will line up in the big competition.

As for the Aussies, it remains to be seen whether they go on to bigger and better things not only in this series but in others. Michael Clarke is the lynchpin and there are still some batting places to firm up. There are so many bowlers who can do a job for them in ODIs and Tests and the selectors need to give them a go instead of dropping them every time they have a poor match. If England did that, Anderson and Broad would have only half the wickets to their names that they do.

England's Ashes but Aussies can hold heads high....-ish

After bad light brought a promising series finale to a ludicrous and disappointing anticlimax, the urn may have been presented to Alastair Cook but Australia can take some heart from the 2013 Ashes. A 3-0 defeat sounds pretty emphatic, and the score was fairly predictable given the sides' respective rankings and recent performances. However, despite the change of regime in mid-tour, there are soe groumds for optimism in the Lehmann camp.

Michael Clarke and Shane Watson rediscovered the art of scoring big hundreds and I commend the skipper's courage to turn a near-certain rain-affected Oval draw into a thrilling series climax. Chris Rogers showed the skill and patience of an old-school opener that had been missing in the T20 era, and Steve Smith's first Test century, which I witnessed at first hand on Thursday, will dampen criticism of his Test credentials. Brad Haddin contributed a few important fifties and broke Rod Marsh's world record for dismissals in a Test series.

With the ball, Ryan Harris proved conclusively, in spite of the many young pretenders, he is Australia's premier fast bowler by taking 24 wickets at under 20 apiece. That's McGrath-esque! Seeing his line and length should prove a lesson to Starc, Bird and Pattinson. I remain a fan of Peter Siddle, at least in English conditions, and Nathan Lyon probably justified his place as his team's main spin option.

Australia held a first-innings lead in four of the five matches yet they contrived to lose twice and draw twice. That is where they were out-fought and perhaps out-thought in the second half of games. England played to the bitter end, and their bowlers were simply too good for the Aussie batsmen when called to arms for a second time. If it wasn't Jimmy Anderson, it was Stuart Broad or even Graeme Swann who ended up the leading wicket-taker from either side with 26. Tim Bresnan, too, proved his worth as a supporting act to the big three before injury presented Chris Woakes with his opportunity at The Oval. The latter's time may yet come again, but it will take a lot to allow Onions or Tremlett to add to their Test appearances. Steve Finn is a more credible alternative on conducive pitches.

England's batsmen did not enjoy a particularly successful series, with the notable exception of Ian Bell. He was a revelation. If he doesn't now get the recognition of being a world-class willow-wielder, I don't know what else he can do. Apart from Woakes in the single game he played, Bell was the only one on the home side who averaged 40+. Pietersen and Root made some telling hundreds but more than half of the young opener's 339 runs came in a single innings. His list of failures is more worrying, although selectors should definitely persevere with him. In the absence of any credible competitor, he should be retained as partner to Cook, whose moderate aggregate of 277 was one of the Ashes surprises.

So congrats to both teams on making the 2013 Ashes a closer contest than I had feared, even if the 3-0 result suggests otherwise. My combined team of the series reflects this:-

Rogers (A), Root (E), Pietersen (E), Bell (E), Clarke (A *), Watson (A), Haddin (A), Broad (E), Swann (E), Harris (A), Anderson (E)

A Bell and Broad-side give England the edge

So after four of the five Tests, England have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead, the Ashes well and truly won and their opponents totally demoralised. Or are they? I don’t feel they ought to be. Cricket Australia has done more to undermine confidence than anything Andy Flower or Alastair Cook’s squad have done. My evidence being the Mickey Arthur dismissal mid-tour, the constant team alterations and the David Warner disciplinary case, although the batsman’s behaviour was clearly to blame for the latter.

Player for player, the team averages look pretty close. On either side, only three front line batsmen have averaged 30 or more, while on the positive side five bowlers average around 30 or below. Where they diverge is by Ian Bell’s three centuries and 500 runs and the main English attack of Anderson, Broad, Bresnan and Swann claiming 67 wickets between them. For the Aussies, only Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle are in double-figures in the Wickets column, with the rest contributing a few here and there before and after being dropped or injured.

Clarke’s class was underlined by his performances at Old Trafford, which unfortunately didn’t result in the victory they deserved. At Chester-le-Street, Chris Rogers showed what they had been missing at the top of the order, alongside a few tantalising glimpses of David Warner’s strokeplay. Steve Smith and Brad Haddin have produced two half-centuries each, but mixed with an unhealthy glut of single-figure scores. Cowan, Khawaja, Watson and Hughes have been outshone even by their own tailenders Agar, Starc and Pattinson although maybe Ed, Phil and Usman should have been given the chance to bowl instead!

England have won because they seem to have more of a winning mentality, believing in themselves even when under the cosh. For years they were prone to batting collapses under pressure but now it’s the turn of Australia, whose lack of depth and consistency has perhaps covered up England’s own deficiencies. Anderson and Broad have won two of the three games, if not single-handedly then largely through some inspired spells when they were most needed. Graeme Swann has claimed 23 wickets already, with Joe Root’s part-time spin making the occasional vital breakthrough, while bustling Tim Bresnan perseveres as ever. The normally reliable Cook and Trott have failed miserably this summer, leaving it up to Bell, KP and some lower-order fortitude to drag them back into positions from which victories were fashioned.

Apart from at Lord’s, England may easily have lost the games. They can breathe a sigh of relief that the men in the green baggies haven’t held their nerve to the bitter end, many chucking away the wickets with poor strokes. A regular, injury-free Aussie bowling attack of Harris, Starc, Siddle, Lyon and Bird or Pattinson would be pretty good, I reckon, but for England to be 3-0 up despite so many batting failures there has to be something for Clarke and the support team to work on, mentally as well as physically, if they are to reclaim the Ashes next winter. Keeping the same side for The Oval might be a start. They’ve nothing to lose and plenty to gain.

New hope but no Ashes for the Aussies

It was always going to be a one-sided series and so it has proved. However, but for the good old-fashioned Manchester weather, Australia may well have been going into the Fourth Test only one down and buoyed by a renewed confidence that the gulf between them and the old enemy wasn't so vast after all.

Of course, it did rain. England have an unassailable lead and therefore, as holders of the urn, they get to keep it for at least another six months or so. I'm reading lots of criticisms of Michael Clarke's captaincy, that he should have declared earlier knowing the weather forecast for Sunday. Uh? Maybe he should have let England bat first on a belter? Maybe he should have retired out on 100 so England could have more time at the crease? No, he did what any skipper would have done. Indeed, had the clouds decided to veer off course, a target of 300-odd in a day would suddenly have looked over-generous.

The only captain to have emerged from the game with reputation somewhat sullied is Alastair Cook. I've never seen such a disgraceful display of persistent time-wasting by a team. To bowl your spinner and yet deliver a mere twelve overs an hour is an insult to those who paid huge sums to watch a cricket match. There were more field changes than in an IPL final, more checks for stray grass seeds on Jimmy Anderson's boot than in a whole series of Gardener's World. Even the Windies in their super-quick, 40-pace run-up heyday were no meaner than England on Saturday afternoon. Yes, Cook did what he had to do to maximise his side's chances of saving the match. The rain did it for him and his delaying tactics left a sour taste in my mouth.

On Sunday, three early wickets and Joe Root looking lost in the land of the red rose gave a hint of what might have been, and Australia need to build on that. For the first time in the series, their batsmen scored runs and bowlers took wickets and gave little away. Clarke led from the front, just as his predecessor Ricky Ponting did so often, earning the grudging respect of even the Barmiest of England's army of fans. David Warner was unfazed by the boo-boys and showed that with his own bad behaviour off the pitch, he's just one of them, really. He needs to do better with the bat, though, as does Shane Watson. Such a gifted all-rounder, he seems to be struggling under the weight of expectation heaped on him in all forms of international cricket. Chris Rogers and Steve Smith also made decent scores and it must be encouraging to see Peter Siddle, Mitch Starc and Ryan Harris all causing the experienced English attack a lot of problems. If Nathan Lyon becomes even half as potent as a Warne, or even a Swann, the Aussies could be pressing for a long awaited victory.

Nevertheless, KP is back in the runs, Cook and Trott are due a big score and Jimmy Anderson won't have another nightmare like at Old Trafford. I don't know what the weather as in store for us in the North East next weekend but my forecast is for England to do what Steve Waugh's team would do a few decades ago after been given a fright: come out fighting and beat the hell out of the opposition. I just hope they do it in more style in the next game.

Aussies maintain their Old Trafford run

I know the Third Ashes Test is only two days old, but England's chances of winning look rather slim after the performances of Michael Clarke, Smith, Rogers, Haddin and the latest late-order batting sensation Mitchell Starc! Whichever direction the pitch faces, Australia haven't lost an Ashes contest at Old Trafford since 1981, although it wasn't one of the venues four years ago.

In the '70s and early '80s it was all England in Manchester when it was all pavilion and railway wires in the background. In 1972, John Snow and Tony Greig starred in an 89-run triumph, despite the efforts of Aussie legends Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh. Five years later, Lillee was badly missed although it proved more of a spinner's wicket. Bob Woolmer's 137 and Derek Underwood's 6-66 in the second innings set up a nine-wicket victory. In 1981, of course, Ian Botham was on fire. He and Bob Willis helped dismiss Kim Hughes' side for 130 , but Lillee and Terry Alderman restricted the home side's lead to 101. Botham's sensational 118 in 102 balls, daring to thump Lillee's bouncers into the stands, extended the margin to more than 500. Despite Graeme Yallop and Allan Border scoring centuries, that proved 103 too many.

Four years on and the Green Baggies were beginning to rebuild under Border's captaincy. Nevertheless, Old Trafford saw them suffer another first innings mauling thanks largely to Mike Gatting's 160. However, Captain Grumpy produced one of his trademark rearguard actions, his unbeaten 146 staving off all that spinners Emburey and Edmonds could throw at him. In 1989, international cricket was changing, and Australia were challenging the West Indies for top dog status, and England were in the firing line.

At Manchester David Gower chose to bat but, despite Robin Smith's defiant century, England were bowled out for under 300. A solid Aussie batting line-up laid the foundation for an easy win, but a heroic 142-run seventh wicket stand between Emburey and Jack Russell almost saved the match. Almost. The 1993 Old Trafford Test was the Ashes opener, and was to become famous for not one, but two dismissals in particular. Gatting b Warne 4 doesn't quite tell the whole story, but that was the moment the cricketing world recognised the genius of a new leg-spinner as he delivered the Ball of the Century! Shane took anoher sevcen wickets in the game, and Merv Hughes claimed eight for himself, too. Facing a target of 500+ in almost two days, Graham Gooch advanced to 133 when he was given out 'handled ball', still one of the few instances in Test history. England finally succumbed by 179 runs as the Aussie attack fought against the clock to bowl them out.

The winning margin was even greater in '97, when Steve Waugh's two hundreds almost beat England on their own. Oh, and we shouldn't forget the seventeen wickets shared by that wonderful pairing of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Eight years passed before the nations met once more under Lancastrian skies. Despite Manchester's reputation, rain hadn't seriously threatened results, and so it proved again, but this was to produce a memorably tight finish in a series renowned for them. Michael Vaughan's 166 and Simon Jones' 6-53 put the home team inthe driving seat before Strauss and co rubbed Aussie noses in it even further, declaring with the visitors 422 in arrears. Batsmen came and went but Ricky Ponting held firm. Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff and Giles tried their best but Ponting's 156, then the last-wicket pairing of Brett Lee and McGrath, did enough to secure a draw, 52 runs short of an improbable victory.

So, moving on to this week and in the era of my cricketing interest, the Old Trafford roll call reads 3 wins apiece with 2 draws. Michael Clarke must hope that the unbeaten record at this grand old ground extends well beyond three decades.

Aussies in the firing line

After a miserable Champions Trophy tournament, the disgraceful off-pitch behaviour of David Warner and the hasty replacement of Mickey Arthur as coach by Darren Lehmann, Michael Clarke's men must have been relieved to get back to playing first-class cricket this week. Taunton often plays the role of warm-up venue for tourists and to their credit, Somerset have fielded most of their first eleven to give the Aussies a bit of a test in advance of the Ashes series.

For much of Wednesday, the county must have wished all their innings came against the Australian bowling attack. Nick Compton showed the selectors what he could do, stroking 13 boundaries in his 81 while Chris Jones enjoyed his elevation to the top rank by reaching an effortless maiden century. I peeked through the Garner Gates for a few overs, and neither Pattinson nor Lyon seemed able to stem the flow of runs. James Hildreth joined in the fun and Lehmann must have held his head in hands with Somerset breezing along at 304-2. However, suddenly the tap was shut off and the home team suffered a collapse almost Essex-esque! Eight wickets fell in eight overs for 16 runs, including five successive ducks, as Mitch Starc and Pattinson bowled and struck the pads with stunning frequency and accuracy.

The second morning saw Shane Watson in sparkling form, advancing smartly towards a hundred. He'd creamed 20 boundaries before he pushed Overton to Trego on 90. Cowan was the only failure in that first innings, although Phil Hughes scored the only other half-century. Despite facing George Dockrill, Hughes seemed comfortable against spin and the ouoting will have done him a lot of good. When Somerset batted again, only James Hildreth and a typically aggressive 60 from Peter Trego gave the bowlers some tough treatment, leaving the tourists 260 to win. On most pitches that could be a troublesome target but this is Taunton and this is a less than scary Somerset attack.

Cowan and Khawaja need to play themselves into real contention for the Test side, while Clarke will want to find his old form after his injury lay-off. Of the bowlers, Peter Siddle again struggled for rhythm and his only wicket was that of number ten Jamie Overton. The Australians have a second county warm-up at Worcester next week but sadly they look one of the weakest green baggy squads I can remember for a long time. With no Hussey, Ponting or even Mitchell Johnson, the look surprisingly ordinary. The ludicrous non-selection for Tests of David Hussey remains one of the most ridiculous decisions by any country in the past decade, and he (and Chris Rogers) are clearly better than the current top order. If they're good enough, they're young enough. Cricket Australia may regret it come the end of summer.

Record Whitewash for India

With the plethora of Test series these days, and bearing in mind India's recent spell as world number ones, it is perhaps surprising that this is the first time they have ever won a rubber 4-0. To do so against Australia must be particularly pleasing to Dhoni and co coming barely a year after the same opposition achieved the same result against them Down Under.

In 2012, it was Michael Clarke - supported by the now-retired Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey - who simply dominated the Indian bowling attack. In the last month, spin has mostly been king on the Asian pitches, and the new-look Aussie battig line-up has come up distinctly second-best. Nathan Lyon has had his moments but it has been Ravi Ashwin's turn to shine, taking 29 wickets to claim the Man of the Series award. Ravi Jadeja picked up 24 in all, and was notably successful in nullifying the threat of Clarke in the first three Tests. His 5-57 this weekend helped set up the run chase which Pujara led convincingly to secure the fourth win out of four.

It wasn't just with the ball that India dominated. Murali Vijay top-scored with 430 runs, Cheteshwar Pujara and even MS Dhoni notched double-centuries and Shikhar Dhawan stepped into the side and thrashed one of the highest innings by a debutant in Test cricket history. Should Sachin Tendulkar take this opportunity to retire with dignity and after a thrashing of the Aussies, he will leave the Indian top order looking more solid than it did last year. Rahane failed on his debut but has the ability to merit another chancPerhaps we need to see how they fare overseas before delivering a final verdict. We know Ashwin, Ojha and Jadeja can do the business on spin-friendly tracks but they were thumped in Australia last year and will always struggle in England and South Africa. Kumar and Sharma are hardly world-class seamers although Ishant was pumped up - too much! - on what proved to be the final day of this series.

As for the Aussies, they will surely bounce back. 'Homework-gate' should be forgotten. That only became an issue because heads were down following a battering. Few players like to analyse their own performance in defeat but in private surely everyone needs to diagnose their own weaknesses in order to improve their game. Australia certainly miss Ponting and Hussey and their tail looked embarrassingly long in the Fourth Test when Steve Smith replaced then injured skipper and Shane Watson was recalled to number four. Peter Siddle, though, outscored them all, becoming the first number nine ever to score fifties in both innings of a Test. Maybe he needs to swap places with Phil Hughes?!

Congratulations to India on their wonderful series victory, their biggest since crushing England twenty years ago. They must hope to take this new-found confidence and turn it into another assault on South Africa's current dominance of Test cricket.

First Class Cricketers of 2012

Kevin Pietersen made a lot of headlines in 2012, not always for the right reasons. It surprised me to see that he ended the year having scored more first-class runs than anyone else in the world! The tally of 1,932 probably owed much to his international layoff in the summer which enabled him to score heavily for Surrey, followed by a productive Test series in India.

England played 15 Tests in the year so their other top batsmen appear high on the list, too. Alastair Cook was in great form with or without the captaincy, accumulating 1,880, of which 1,249 came in England colours. Nick Compton started 2012 as an England Lions player, enjoyed a prolific start to Somerset's Championship season, spent months out injured then came back to play all four Tests on England's tour of England as a stand-in opener. His 1,855 runs put him third in the first-class list, averaging a very impressive 77.29.

Australians occupy the next three places. Ed Cowan has yet to cement a place in the national side but he played a lot of cricket, domestic and international, to score 1,784 runs in total. Michael Clarke appeared in barely half the number of first-class matches as Cowan, yet gathered only 16 fewer runs across the year. His Test tally of 1,595 was comfortably ahead of nearest challengers Cook, Hashim Amla, Pietersen and Trott, the only others to reach four figures in 2012. Chris Rogers is the only non-Test playing man to top 1,700 runs in the calendar year. His 2012 included a mighty 49 innings for Middlesex and Victoria, yielding 1,737 runs.

Like Cowan, Phil Hughes put in a good shift in all formats last year but in Tests, special mention should go to Shiv Chanderpaul, whose nine appearances for the West Indies brought him 987 runs at an average of just under 100. Mike Hussey can hold his head high as he faces retirement as his last full year for Australia brought him 898 runs at a shade under 60.

The most eye-catching stats for a wicketkeeper were AB De Villiers' 815 Test runs at 58, although he only donned the gloves after Mark Boucher's sad career-ending eye injury at Taunton in the summer. Matt Prior showed again how useful a batsman he can be, even at six or seven, accmuulating 777 runs at 39 for England. In all first-class games, only Sarfraz Ahmed dismissed more batsmen than Prior: 65 from 16 games in Pakistan. Hampshire's young 'keeper Michael Bates enjoyed a great summer, but needs to work on his batting to threaten Prior's position as England's number one.

Rangana Herath pipped fellow spinner Graeme Swann to top the Test wicket-taking table of 2012, with 60 in only 10 games. A shame none of his Sri Lanka team-mates could follow his lead. Anderson and Broad also took at least 40 Test wickets each but when it comes to all first-class victims, one Englishman stands head and shoulders above the rest in world cricket: Monty Panesar. His 102 included 33 in England colours, where he often outshone the established Swann, whose annual tally was 81.

Ahead of Swann was another off-spinner, Jeetan Patel. He didn't have a great year for Wellington or New Zealand but played a big part in Warwickshire's County Championship triumph, as did Chris Wright and Keith Barker. It wasn't a year only for the slow bowlers. Vernon Philander may not have matched his sensational start to Test cricket in 2011, but his 85 wickets in all first-class cricket placed him second in the world. A fair proportion of them came for Somerset, even on the traditional batting track at Taunton.

Jackson Bird's 70+ wickets for Tasmania and Australia A at under 20 apiece finally earned him an international call-up and he looked a useful fast bowler in the defeat of Sri Lanka in the dying days of 2012. Graeme Onions was also in fine form in an otherwise mediocre Durham side last summer, averaging a mere 16.24 from his 16 matches.

I haven't actually mentioned any genuine all-rounders. That's because 2012 didn't appear to be a vintage year for those who excel at both batting and bowling in the first-class game. Is this because T20 has channelled those with dual talents into playing in a way that simply doesn't suit longer-form cricket? Maybe it's just a blip!

If I had to pick first-class teams of the year, here goes....

ALL 1st class cricket:-

Cook, Cowan, Compton, Pietersen, Clarke(*), Pujara, Prior(+), Philander, Bird, Onions, Panesar.

TESTS: Cook, G Smith, Amla, Kallis, Chanderpaul, Clarke (*), De Villers(+), Swann, Philander, Anderson, Herath

One-day cricket to follow....

Batting records dominate the week

After all the trashy Twenty20 tourneys and meaningless ODIs, we fans of proper cricket have been spoilt these past few weeks with some intriguing Test clashes. Mind you, the past few days have witnessed some memorable batting performances, mostly I suspect the product of one-day cricket.

First we had Bangladesh debutant Abul Hasan crashing a superb 113 and sharing in the second highest ninth wicket partnership in history. A shame that his day job - opening the bowling - was such a disaster as the West Indies went on the rampage, racing to another 500+ total. Marlon Samuels struck a career-best 260 while Darren Bravo and veteran Shiv Chanderpaul also reached three figures. So far Hasan has conceded as many runs as he scored without taking a single wicket. For all the joyful celebrations after the first day, the home team are facing another disappointing defeat.

Over in Adelaide, Australia raced to their highest single-day score, bolstered by a rapid century from David Warner, another hundred by Mike Hussey and a world record fourth 'double' in a calendar year by Michael Clarke. Not even the Don managed that statistic. Before recovering to grab a five-for today, Saffer paceman Morne Morkel was made to look amateurish and Imran Tahir was left open to ridicule, sending down 23 overs, being thumped for almost eight an over and even conceding several no-balls. For a spinner in Tests that really isn't good enough. Hopefully he hasn't been scarred for life! At least Graeme Smith is demonstrating the toughness required to build a spirited response to the Aussie onslaught, but with Kallis injured, can they bat long enough to save the game?

The first day in India saw no such runfests but with spinners peppering both line-ups, it was the star of the First Test, Cheteshwar Pujara, who again caught the eye. With Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kohli and Dhoni falling tamely to Monty Panesar, the 24 year-old demonstrated the virtues needed to succeed in Test cricket, ending unbeaten on 114. England won't win a match if they can't get him out, reminiscent of Steve Waugh in 1989.

I wonder what Sri Lanka and New Zealand will serve up next week. This week's fixtures have set the bar very high indeed!