So it is 5-0. The Ashes were long gone but the series ended with one final show of abject surrender, not since the so called ‘Blackwash’ against the West Indies in the 1980’s have England been so humbled. It’s not clear whether we should be resigned, angry or simply glad it is all over. However the question remains,” Where did it go wrong?”


 The wonderful gift of hindsight shows the seeds of defeat were sown at the height of English success. Simon Jones, the reverse swing bowler who offered something noticeably different and undeniably dangerous, broke down with a serious knee injury and a real potent weapon in the English armoury was gone. If we soon knew about his long term prospects the problems for Ashley Giles (hip), Andrew Flintoff (ankle), Michael Vaughan (knee) and Marcus Trescothick were yet to surface. Any momentum gained by the Ashes victory soon ground to a halt.


If England lost a quality batsman with the loss of Michael Vaughan they also lost the priceless commodity of leadership. The inability of Marcus Trescothick to fulfil the vice-captaincy role he was groomed for has been unfortunate but previous lessons have not been learnt, burdening your most influential player with the captaincy rarely has the desired results for either team or player. Whole hearted effort is a worthy team ethos but there is no substitute at the top level for the tactical nous which only a skilled captain can bring to bear
 

By the end of the first day things were already ominous, even overlooking Steve Harmison’s awful first ball wide and England’s propensity to start slowly. A score of over 350 for only 3 wickets showed that England lacked penetration on Australian wickets and also a spinner in the side, Ashley Giles at this point, to beguile the opposition and tie them down. However it was a notable lack of swing, the weapon that consistently undid the Aussies in England, which really negated the English attack.


There is more to Cricket though than just bowling, efforts with the bat have been just as disappointing. The English batting has seldom fired together; a first innings score of over 550 in Adelaide was only a prelude to a second innings collapse that almost defied belief. Paul Collingwood’s double century was a highlight as was a century for Alistair Cook but Ian Bell has not crafted the really big innings his side have so desperately needed and has the responsibility of captaincy restrained the attacking instincts of Andrew Flintoff?

 
Batting though is not the sole responsibility of the top order; the bowlers have to be able to contribute. Australia bat all the way down to at least Brett Lee at number 9, England’s inability to find a Test Standard wicketkeeper batsman means the tail effectively begins after the skipper at number 7. In the first innings at Sydney England’s last five batsman added just four runs between them, their Australian counterparts contributed 173. You can’t give any team that sort of advantage, let alone the most destructive team in the world.

 
The real core problem has been that England again did not find a response to Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, they never have. It seems that only old father time appears able to save them from further punishment.  Pressure plays such a huge part; by consistently exposing the weaknesses in the English batting the bowlers have never had the types of scores to put the Aussies under pressure consistently. Whether they possessed the bowling ammunition to follow it up is another discussion.

 
 The final, acid test is always to compare the two line ups and imagine what your best XI would be if you could pick between the sides. You would probably take Flintoff over Andrew Symonds and Pietersen over Michael Clarke but apart from that it appears to be dominated by Australians, and rightly so. There is no disgrace in losing to a better side, especially one on their home turf and so fiercely determined to set the record straight. The thoughts lingers though that England should not have been quite so inept in doing it.