Aus view - What next ?

Even before the first bowl was bowled in the Ashes, there were 2 people who had predicted a 5-0 washout. One of them was Mcgrath and the other was yours truly :). But on the fateful morning before Edgbagston test, Mcgrath decided to do something as silly as stepping over the ball, and made sure that our prophecy will never come true !

When I checked scores at 6:00 am on Monday, the Poms were 120-5, and the Aussies were still in the hunt. During my half hour commute to the office, I kept thinking of all the times the Aussies have delivered when the chips were down, and people had almost written them off. I have seen Bevan hit a four of last ball to seal victory, I have seen him rally with tailenders to score 70 odd runs in a thrilling chase, I have seen Warne bowling Gibbs with a beauty in World cup semis and clinching victory out of thin air. There has been numerous such occasions, and throughout this summer, I kept believing that one such miracle was just round the corner - but the closest they got was the 2 runs loss at Edgbagston.

As reporters all over the world revel in writing obituaries for the cricketing giant, let us not forget the monumental task achieved by the English men. Gilchrist wasn't bad with the bat -Flintoff was better with the bowl. Kasprowicz and Gillespie didn't fail - Flintoff, KP etc nullified their attack. The Aussies didnt hand over the Ashes on a platter, the Britishers had to earn it. England might have dominated the last 4 matches of the test, but the Aussies always mustered enough fight to make sure that the outcome was decided in the last session. Both teams played with hearts of fire, to stake claim to the ashes, and in doing so dished out one of the best test series ever.

As Vaughan & his men celebrate with the Queen, Prime minister and other high ranking officials, Punter and his mates would be thrown into deep introspection, before they return home and face the wrath of the people for losing the URN. Heads will surely roll, but its only a matter of time before the Aussies would be back to their winning best. The English on the other hand would be looking forward to strenghten their claim as the second best team during the upcoming series in Pakistan.

Its been exactly a decade since Steve Waugh eyeballed Ambrose, and scored a 200 n.o to lead the Aussies to their first victory in the Carribean in more than a decade. Since then the Aussies have been invincinble, annhilating their opponents, both at home and away. Their extraordinary streak of 16 consecutive victories was halted, temporarily though, by another extraordinary effort by V.V.S. Laxman at Eden Garden. Barring this one slip up, the Aussies have been flawless in dismantling their opposition in both form of games. Their current crop have proved more menacing than even the fast and furious windies of 80's. The Aussies won the tag of champions after exhibiting an uncanny consistency over a decade and it would be really churlish to start writing an elegy for this great team.