It's the greatest Christmas present a fan of English cricket could ever wish for. Not only did England retain the Ashes at Melbourne, they did it by obliterating the Australians out of sight, effectively ending the career of Ricky Ponting, who will now miss the final test at Sydney with that nagging broken finger sustained in Perth. The first successful campaign Down Under for 24 years and the boys celebrated in style with a little Sprinkler and apparently a few dozen Jagerbombs. It turns out that all cricket teams at all levels celebrate any success in exactly the same way! Here's how the test panned out:
4th Test (Melbourne) - England 513 (Trott 168*, Prior 85, Cook 82, Strauss 69, Pietersen 51, Siddle 6-75) beat Australia 98 (Tremlett 4-26, Anderson 4-44) and 258 (Haddin 55*, Watson 54, Bresnan 4-50) by an innings and 157 runs. Lead the series 2-1 and retain the Ashes
So we all settled down on Christmas night for the most anticipated Boxing Day Ashes Test for a generation. Australia had gambled in preparing a green-tinged wicket to suit their bowling attack early on. And then lost the toss. England made their own gamble in leaving out Steven Finn, the leading wicket-taker in the series up to this point, for Tim Bresnan, who would be more likely to keep things tight and swing the ball. My opinion on Bresnan is that he is perfectly suited to cricket, what with his wide arse-base, but he lacks consistent penetration to be considered a serious threat at Test level. However, I believe he proved me wrong in this game. He did indeed find a nice rhythm and a touch of away movement, but then also managed to reverse swing the ball along with Jimmy Anderson to keep the batsmen, who played several stupid shots against him, honest. Which when you're facing such a fragile lineup is all you need to do.
There's nothing more really to add to the Australian batting performance. In the first innings, all of the wickets were taken behind the stumps, including six for the increasingly useful Matt Prior. This is a combination of decent English bowling in a good channel, but really the Aussies chased so many wide ones to get themselves out, particularly Brad Haddin who looked so frenetic in trying to hit his side out of trouble. So let us instead focus upon the magnificence that is Jonathan Trott. And by magnificent, I don't mean the spectacle of his batting - it is his sheer resolve, determination and desire not to get out that sets him apart from his teammates. He is the best batsman in the side just now. Any questions posed last winter in South Africa about his mental fortitude have been blown out of the water. And I defy anyone who claim he hasn't really got a shot in him. He may lack the elegance of Strauss or the flamboyance of Pietersen, but his cover drive and flick off the pads are both a pleasure to watch when he gets going. And he generally allows others to play around him, which means the viewer can still enjoy the cricket, if not necessarily his innings!
Despite Paul Collingwood's horror run continuing, England are unlikely to make a change for the final test. Usman Khawaja and Michael Beer should both make their debuts, for Ponting and Ben Hilfenhaus, the latter change owing to the need for a spinner on the SCG track. England will want to win the series, so expect so let up and probably another victory - who would you back on a spinning pitch? Graeme Swann or Michael Beer? Exactly!
RM
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