Sunday, January 5, 2014

5-0. Natural order is restored.


The urn has returned to its rightful home. Equilibrium is restored. All is right in the world again. The Australia that we all knew and loved has awoken from her slumber. Is it not clear now? The last three Ashes series won by England were the freak aberration, not the 16 years' of Australian supremacy. The big, bad Australia that used to terrorise Englishmen for fun is back, back with a vengeance. Lick your wounds, England, for natural order has been restored, and Australians enjoy winning.

Banter aside, though, it has been a privilege, as an Australian, to witness this spectacular Ashes series. We've witnessed some of the best cricket that the Australian cricket team has produced in a very, very long time. The ghosts of collapse to South Africa, whitewash in India, and (relative) trouncing in England are exorcised with the sporting spectacle that has been the 2013-14 Ashes series. Australia had surely hit rock bottom in the 4-0 Indian whitewash, but look now. Surely this will go down as one of the great events in Australian sporting history, to come back from the ashes so quickly and completely (excuse the bad pun)? 

Although I didn't make any predictions like I did before the 2013 series in England (I might have jinxed us), I quite expected England to win this series, even if Australia got a better return this time. As a group of individual players, England were, and arguably still are, the better team, after all. Australia had one genuinely great batsman - Michael Clarke - while England had three - Alastair Cook, Kevin Pieterson and Ian Bell. Australia had two world-class bowlers - Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson - while England had three - Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. I fully expected Alastair Cook to come triumphantly out of his run of poor form (remember the last time he came to Australia?), for Pieterson to bully our bowlers to tears, for Bell to continue churning out hundreds for fun, for Swann and Broad to wreak havoc. So I am confounded that it didn't turn out that way, especially so in the case of Cook. Yes, I am honestly surprised that Australia won this series; I'm astonished, pinching myself, that Australia have won it 5-0. I saw England winning the series perhaps 2-1 or 3-2, yet Australia have won every single Test match convincingly. Unlike the last Ashes series in England, the scoreline does not flatter the winning side at all: 5-0 is a profoundly accurate reflection of the dominance Australia have displayed over England in every match and nearly every session of this series.

Just by way of comparison:

Australia have made 10 hundreds to England's 1.

Australia have made a total of over 300 runs in an innings 5 times to England's 2 times.

Australia have bowled England out for under 200 runs 6 times, while England not once.

Quite astounding, if you remember that, immediately before the Gabba Test, Australia's top seven batsmen shared an aggregate average of 38.15 (excluding Bailey) compared to an average of 43.55 for England's top seven, or 42.91 without Trott. Verily, this is an example of an ordinary team doing extraordinary things, and an extraordinary team doing very ordinary things. Throughout this series, Australia have been more than the sum of its parts, while, conversely, England have been far, far less than the sum of its parts.

One thing I think is worth noting is that, going into the England Ashes series, Australia were widely seen to be a ragtag rabble; old timers Chris Rogers and Brad Haddin had been co-opted into the side to provide some much-needed experience in what was a side of inexperienced and largely unproven youngsters who had barely played with each other. In contrast, England were the established, experienced side with a formidable lineup of battle-hardened veterans. Now, on the other end of this six-month back-to-back Ashes odyssey, the tables are turned: Australia look like the established, settled team, while England are the inexperienced rabble. To be sure, this perception might be compounded by the absence of Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann from the England side in the last four and two Tests, respectively, and by Australia's having played the same XI for five consecutive Tests. But it's true enough, isn't it? This Australian side is now a settled side, at least for the next couple of years. This Australian side has proven that they work extremely well together as a unit and that together they can play a standard of cricket that is greater than the sum of their parts. Conversely, three debutants in the Sydney Test tells me that England will undoubtedly be having a long, hard think about who will play in the England cap from this point forward. Trott may return to the Test team in time, but he won't return to the team he last played with at the Gabba.

As for Australia, what lies ahead? Australia's next challenge is South Africa, the reigning world champions of Test cricket. As much as this whitewash over England has shown this Australian team's mettle and skill, South Africa are a much more formidable opponent than England, and we are playing them on their home turf. There is a reason why South Africa obstinately remain the best Test team in the world - several reasons actually: Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Graham Smith, Hashim Amla, and AB de Villiers; the uncontested best bowling attack in the world and among the best batsmen in the world. I just can't see Australia coming out on top in South Africa, but then again, I fully expected Australia to lose this Ashes series. It's a three Test series, so I trepidatiously predict that South Africa will win 3-0. I hope to God that I will be proven wrong, though.