Rohit wrote:
England have been dismal. They had become a bit arrogant by the end of the previous series. It has cost them against an Australian side which discovered some spirit.
I don't really agree with arrogance costing us. I think the scoreline of the previous series flattered us and we were never as good as it suggested, nor were the Aussies as bad. They arrived in turmoil having been thrashed in India, the homework nonsense, Warner getting himself suspended and a new coach. They didn't know what their best batting lineup was and spent too much time moving Hughes up and down the order and messing about with Khawaja and Cowan who have never looked like international players and in fairly spin friendly conditions they picked the 19 year old spinner ahead of Lyon who, as special as his debut batting innings was, never looked like an international bowler.
Their fast bowlers were on top of us throughout the series and we were in big trouble in pretty much every innings but we were rescued by Bell and some terribly inept batting from them. They would likely have won the 3rd test if not for rain, and maybe the 5th too. It also helped that 3 times we won the toss and batted first (the 3 tests we won) so there was time to turn things around once Bell got in and the 2 times we had to bat 4th, rain had saved us from the possibility of losing. This time they have won the toss and batted first each time and posted big scores so by the time it's got down to Bell there has been too much to do. The fast bowlers have continued to dominate us, and the introduction of Johnson has meant no recovery has been possible.
In 8 tests in a row now we have not made it to 400 once, while they have 4 times, passing 500 twice. That speaks volumes. There have been chances in this series though. Each first innings we've got into a really strong position to get them out cheaply, but for one partnership to take it away each time. In Adelaide in particular, if Carberry hadn't dropped the sitter when Clarke was on 30 and we got into the bowlers on day 1 then who knows? Doesn't help that we have now lost our best bowler in this series too.
Worst thing for me is that the 2 series were back to back though. Had it been the usual 18 month gap I don't think it would have hurt as much as there at least would have been time to savour winning it again. 2005, 2009 and 2010/11 are all probably in my top 5 sporting memories but this means all memories of the 2013 home win are now gone as I'll only be able to think about what happened straight after.
