The Ashes concluded yesterday at 17.49 BST as Graeme Swann found the inside edge of Mike Hussey s bat and the ball ballooned up to Alastair Cook at short leg. The five match series was over and Andrew Strauss and his troops could finally bury the memory of their humiliation down under two years ago. The little urn is coming home and, until December 2010 at least, England will hold the bragging rights.
England had many heroes to thank for their success, Ian Bell s 72 in the first innings laid the foundations, Stuart Broad s five for in the second innings demolished the Australian s batting line up and Jonathan Trott s century in the second innings hammered home England s advantage. The captain, Andrew Strauss, also deserves mention for his superb 75 and his inspirational leading of the side.
The terraces would argue that the hero was Flintoff; true his impact on the match was small, but it was his run out of Ricky Ponting that proved so pivotal in turning the game back in England s favour, following a nervy partnership of 121 between the Australian skipper and Michael Hussey. However to highlight the performance of too few players would diminish the team effort; true a few individuals put in fine performances, but, like 2005, it was the overall team effort that helped England overhaul Australia.
This is demonstrated by the statistics, only 2 centuries scored by England players – in comparison to 8 by the Aussies, only 2 England players averaged over 40 while 6 Australians managed this. This shows that whilst the Aussies had the better individual performances, it was England who won the crucial moments and combined as a team to overcome the old foe.
It would be churlish to suggest that England were by miles the better team. The teams were essentially matched and had Stuart Broad not suddenly learned how to bowl on Friday it could have been Ricky Ponting s side taking the plaudits on Sunday afternoon.
Just like at Lord s it was a collapse, ironically of traditionally English proportions, that proved to be Australia s undoing. Stuart Broad steamed in like a man trying to be the new Flintoff and harried and hurried the Australian batsmen until they had no answer; Watson was caught in front, Ponting played on, Hussey shouldered arms, Clarke drove hard to cover and Haddin was undone by some supreme swing bowling. Swann cleaned up the rest and suddenly England had bowled themselves into a winning position. English supporters couldn t believe it, neither could the Aussies.
Unlike 2005, this series wasn t a classic. Despite England s success, one doubts that the DVD will sell quite so well come Christmas time. This is probably because this time round there weren t so many great players; Manou, Bopara and Siddle may be good cricketers, but they barely hold a flame to McGrath, Warne and Gilchrist. On both sides the efforts were more workmanlike, even the top performers such as Katich, North and Strauss did so in a way that rarely emptied bars.
In essence it appears that England came together more effectively than the Australians, the statistics might suggest England have been lucky, but over five games they have overcome the same side that recently went to South Africa and won. It is an achievement that must not be underplayed, and whilst Trott, Prior et al would be lucky to receive the Trafalgar square celebrations and MBEs bestowed upon their 2005 counterparts, all English cricket fans will be enjoying themselves at the minute, especially if they re lucky enough to know an Australian.
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