Ashes 4th Test

[El Gordo]

Hey ho and on we go. At least here in jolly old England we have the sight of a squirming Chelsea manager to warm our cockles. John Terry under the knife, 'Sheva' unable to locate a bovine posterior with an acoustic guitar and the sight of Lord Ferg dancing red-nosed in the snow. Heh heh.

One wonders what our Australian cousin(s) must make of that.

On the other, more painful, subject, I turn to an unlikely source, the wonderful International Herald Tribune to sum up my own view:

[INDENT]After losing to England last year, Australia reasserted its international hegemony with a combination of brilliance and relentlessness none could resist. That the much-anticipated Ashes rematch had been an anticlimax owed something to English inadequacies, but more to an extraordinary Australian team reaching fresh heights.[/INDENT]

Believe it or not, I don't think England have played that badly. Much has been said about their attitude, but it was only in the 4th test that I started to sense their heads dropping. Up till now, I think they've gone about the task as best they could, but unfortunately their best hasn't been good enough.

This isn't intended to be a criticism of England. We're a team of triers and even a team of reasonably talented cricketers but.... but there seems to be something not quite right about the way we organise ourselves... but an even bigger but, previously mentioned by most of us who take an interest... Australia are a side at the height of their collective powers at the moment. In true English fashion, we should at some point doff our caps to what is, undoubtedly, a great cricket team; one that'll be talked about alongside the fabulous West Indian sides of the late 70s and through the 80s.

That said, it's pretty obvious to me that had the secret bowling plans of the England team not been stolen and circulated amongst the Australian team management, the story could have been quite different.