It's all over. The Ashes have been decided and the Aussies have won it in an utterly domineering fashion. Betting against a whitewash is sounding increasingly stupid with each passing day. Having challenged the Aussies for a bit in the first test at Brisbane and only briefly bringing the game alive in the third innings of the second test at Adelaide, the game at Perth was England's last opportunity to stay in the series. Adding to the significance of the match was the fact that this was going to be the farewell match for an iconic ground - the WACA at Perth. Long known for being one of the zippier decks around the world, the ground will stop being used for cricket going ahead. Australian legacy at Perth was on the line as well - you do not want to bid a losing farewell to a ground which has meant so much to you over the decades.
The Ashes urn (Source: Sports Mirchi)
England started the match strongly and at the end of the first day's play, were sitting pretty at 305/4, with David Malan and Johnny Bairstow scoring impressive centuries. They began the second day strongly as well, progressing to 368 without further loss of wickets. And then it all went pear-shaped. England lost 6 wickets for 35 runs, and the momentum had swung! Australia went big in response - Smith scored a brilliant double hundred, aided ably by Mitchell Marsh, who scored an attractive 181 himself. Australia declared with a lead of 259. And that proved to be enough as Hazlewood headlined a thumping innings victory with a five wicket haul. England had their moments - in fact they were ahead of the eight ball for the first four sessions, but Australia were able to apply consistent pressure on the England batting line-up, which struggled to live up to its on-paper promise.
Early on in the series as well, England was in the ascendancy in brief phases. In the first test, they had Australia at 209/7 in the first innings, having posted 300+ themselves. In the second test, England sparked the match to life by bundling the Aussies out for 138 in the third innings and starting well in their chase of 354. But, England were never able to bat Australia out and when they bowled, they lacked penetration. In contrast, Australia were ruthless while batting (with Smith leading the charge) and relentless while bowling with Hazlewood, Cummins and Lyon taking turns to be chief tormentors.
Steven Smith is an unlikely test match batting great. He only started off as a leg-spinning all-rounder, and was looked at as the next Shane Warne. His game is not pretty, but it is mighty effective. Over the last couple of years, Smith has been prolific. His official batting ratings (compiled by ICC for rankings) are at an all time second highest position, next only to Bradman. Let that sink in. In this series, Smith has already score over 400 runs, at a staggering average of 142. In comparison, England's trump card and skipper Joe Root has aggregated just 176 runs, at an average of under 30. The two skippers are part of a quartet (alongside Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson) often described as the best batsmen of this generation. At the start of this series, this was one head-to-head battle which could leave an impact on the series. In the first three games, only one of the two stood up to be counted, and that clearly has made all the difference!
The two skippers, champion batsmen (Source: DNA India)
To be sure, this is not an all-beating, world-conquering Australian side like Steve Waugh's men. In fact, remove Steve Smith from the ranks, and the batting line up is decidedly dodgy and it would have made for a much, much closer contest. But, how did England lose so comprehensively to them, then? After all, it was not long ago that England were the number one ranked test team, who managed the near impossible double of beating both India and Australia in away tours.
The post mortem will have to wait until after the series, but two key factors stand out already. One is the utter lack of penetration of the bowling attack on flat pitches. Even Anderson who is a magician on strips which offer movement off the seam, but is fairly ineffective otherwise. Second is the increased focus of ECB on limited overs cricket in general and T20s in specific. To keep up with BCCI and ACB, England wants to develop a robust T20 league after having fallen behind. However, that is possible only when there is a good pool of domestic T20 cricketers. ECB is trying to ensure that by incentivizing counties to infuse younger talents into the teams. Four day cricket has been sidelined a bit, and we are seeing dilution of test match skills, possibly due to this being the first generation of cricketers who train for T20 and adapt to test cricket and not the other way around. Whether that is the right thing to do, or if we should strive to maintain the primacy of test match cricket is a discussion for another day. For now, England would dearly love to put up a better showing in the Boxing day game. Root will be desperate not to start off his Ashes captaincy with a whitewash. However, if the last few weeks are anything to go by, there is little Root can do to turn this around!