Australia's dominance in all forms of cricket was slowly dismantled by South Africa's methodical claim to the throne with aid from India to break them down brick by brick.With most of the war horses either retired or sacked,the Aussie team is as vulnerable as an infant snatched from a mother and wounded as much within.Without Ricky Ponting himself,none of the top or middle order speaks of much experience or class,not counting Micheal Hussey's first class dexterity or Micheal Clarke's energy to be gunning to usurp the inevitable throne vacancy.
England seem to have found themselves a brutally determined statesman whose bat seems to have suddenly picked up to speak from Pietersen's seems to have suddenly halted.Pietersen is
still batting only marginally less than what he is usually used to.And by that,it means a singular century every series and a 50 every alternate match.That is still top notch by English standards,but only few could truly swear of Pietersen's ancestral belongings as being genuinely English.Andrew Strauss has been able to come up with spectacular colors that in all probabilities even he wasn't aware of until recently.In the last year and a half,he has scored 7 of his 17 centuries and averages a good 10 runs higher than his career stats indicate.The Pietersen drama led the crown to find it's way to a person's head,where it should have rightfully landed even before he took over for the Pakistan series,resulting from Flintoff's injury.Not to say that under Strauss,the 5-0 drubbing could've been avoided in Australia as even under Strauss himself,Sri Lanka did exactly that and so too on England turfs.
Places for the seamers are up for grabs in the Aussie camp like never before and even though they don't have an official spinner,Nathan Hauirtz's veteran 4 match Test record not
withstanding,2 of the spots are already guaranteed.Ponting would be labeled insane to let go of Peter Siddle,so earnestly has he flung the Kookaburra and it would only be fair reward if he at least got one end to do the same with the red Wales cork.Mitchell Johnson could do only so much to not make skipper if both Ponting and Clarke failed to get up to the alarm on match day.As far as the other 1 or 2 places,Stuart Clark and a fitter looking Lee will be dueling with Hilfenhaus while a triple threat ensues on the sidelines between Watson,McDonald and Marcus North for the No.6 position.
With most or all of the finest of players that made Australia the team it was for more than a decade missing from the current squad,Ricky Ponting will be riding against time to get his hands on the urn in England-the one achievement still missing from his impeccable list of achievements.He has been part of 18 Ashes triumphs,7 of them in England and 10 as skipper but never once has he led the team to win in a series in England.
Another worrying factor is that of the 7 he did lead the team in,his average is a dismal 32 with only 1 ton.That's one of many rare blemishes that'll haunt him to his grave if he finishes unfinished this time around.
While Strauss seems to have suddenly found a hunger that has only come in great timing for the English camp,Ponting seems to be on a downward spiral for his standards.Since 2008,he has added only 4 tons to his mind numbing bank of centuries and averages around 10 lesser than his career average-in complete reciprocal of Strauss's new found drive.
As like Strauss,Ponting too has an outstanding record playing as captain against England(as against other countries)and like some eerie co-incidence both of them average close to 60 as captains,a different deal being that Ponting has been captaining his side right from around the time Strauss made his debut for England as player.
England will be missing the services of some of their star players from 2005 as well with the likes of Simon Jones,Matthew Hoggard and even if Flintoff plays,one can't be really sure of his contribution with recurring injuries worse than when Ashish Nehra once donned the Indian colors.In the midst of all this confusion,one man the England camp might trully miss is the man who actually led them to their only triumph in almost 2 decades-Micheal Vaughaun.They might not only miss the best 1 down player to ever play for their team,they might well miss out on the best strategist they could afford on field to go along with Andy flower off it.
Ian Bell has been awfully shaky at No.3 and is a safely assumed omission from the playing eleven and while Ravi Bopara has proved his presence in the team with 2 centuries in not a lot of tests both home and away,an Ashes series with a resilient and wounded Lee and an agonizingly disciplined Siddle is going to be very different than facing a Fidel Edwards concentrating more on breaking an 8 down James Anderson's visor than providing break throughs for the country he plays for.
England are on road to redemption.Suddenly,they seem to finally possess the sort of spirit they never believed they had for the last 4 years and that too only marginally while the Ashes was still on then.Under a determined new captain and a pack of wolves gunning for the middle order,they'd be foolish to not let momentum take them forward from here and not regaining the trophy they so miserably gave away only an year after having earned it so remarkably.
Australia on the other hand are also on the road to redemption.Although,probably not in the exact same way,they're riding high on handing back the stick to South Africa on their home turf.They are still the world's best team.It's going to take quite an effort from a resilient English camp to dislodge them from their mantle and let the Africans rule the world or Dhoni's newly manufactured unit start dictating terms.All said,guards shall be taken and prides set on the tables.Lips shall be smacked and Adam's apples shall wobble.
For this is one contest the queen wouldn't want to miss.Least of all us-the mere spectators.
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