A giant falls

Well who would have thought it? Plucky Bangladesh take their Test against Sri Lanka into a fifth day thanks to Mohammad Ashraful's unbeaten 70. Meanwhile, in other cricket news...

There is, of course, only one story. The numbers themselves are astounding: first defeat for Australia at the MCG since 1998, first series defeat in Australia since 1993 and the possibility of a first whitewash since 1983 if they lose in Sydney, where they would also surrender the much-loved and rarely displayed ICC Mace for being the planet's top Test cricketers to Graeme Smith. It would be the first whitewash at home since 1887.

But beyond the numbers there are some intriguing questions as a result of today's defeat in Melbourne. Is this still just a blip or now a terminal decline? Is it the end of the road for Hayden as opener, for Ponting as captain, for Lee as a strike bowler? Will Australia ever find another quality spin bowler? Can we start raising hopes about the Ashes? It was only a year ago when Australia were winning 16 Tests in a row, after all.

For what it is worth, my view is that Hayden is terminally wounded and, at 37, should be sent off to write cookbooks with grateful thanks. There are several very talented youngsters who can replace him (Jaques, Rogers, Marsh and Hughes being at the top of the queue) and it is better to blood them now. Ponting should continue as captain. He is easily the best batsman in the side and Australia have always picked their best XI and then picked the captain. But he needs to be given more of a say in selection. He has not been dealt the best bowlers. Lee can't play the role of front man, he needed a McGrath there to allow him free rein. Australia need Stuart Clark to be fit. And as for spinners, well if the best they have are Symonds, Katich and Clarke, then why waste a place on someone who isn't up to it? How very English to stick a spinner in for the sake of it.

But what do you think? As ever, leave your comments via the button below.

Not for the first time, I find myself regretting that Test cricket has been reduced to three-Test series (or smaller). Australia may have lost two matches, but they could easily have been 2-0 up. This has been an enthralling series with so many twists and turns. It deserves a five-Test stage. Of course, in a way it has a six-Test stage as Australia will head to South Africa in February for another three Tests, but they have to play a one-day series, which drains the excitement a little.

Anyway, let us enjoy the moment as Australia lick their wounds. I think it is almost certain that their spell of mortality will not last as long as it has for the previous fallen giant, West Indies, and it will probably not be long before we are all fed up with South Africa winning everything anyway. All credit to them for now. They are creating a side of giants from 1 to 11 as Australia did over a long period in the late 1990s. Graeme Smith, we salute you. And fear you.

2009 could be a fascinating year. Who will be top dog by its end? India, let's not forget, are awesome but can they win away from home? Sri Lanka have the best spinner in the world and two of the best batsmen. Pakistan never play Tests these days but their one-day record in 2008 was better than anyone's and they have the players to win Tests if given a game. And England, well who knows? Win twice against the Windies and beat Australia in the Ashes and maybe Cap'n KP will be holding the mace next year.

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Comments

As much as I enjoy seeing the shackle-draggers lose, can we have a bit of perspective here please? We need to be worrying about whether we can beat WI before we decide tht next Ashes is a gimme.

[Peter McGuinness]

Aussie problems are with the ball, not the bat; specifically selectors Hilditch, Cox, Hughes and Boon have completely lost their marbles in continually ignoring at least 8 of the country's best bowlers over the last 6 months.

Terrific that Bollinger has finally been justly rewarded though. Mind you, retaining Siddle and Hauritz and picking McDonald (????!!!!!) means that Dougie and Mitch will be left with all the work and that Punter will need to stretch his modest strategic skills to breaking point yet again. Two quality bowlers (only) will not get all your 20 wickets consistently in Test Matches.

It's taking Hilditch and Co a while to catch on to this stunning new information. Good on SA. They are playing beautifully. Even without Andre...

[Jordan]

These pre-Ashes articles concerning Asutralia always crack me up. The debate is never about the strenghts of the English team, rather it centers around the question "Are the Assies finally crap enough so we can beat them".
As an Aussie I'll be the first to admit that SA and India are better teams, with SA being the number one team at the moment, however English fans shoud realise that a dip in form by the Australian team doesn't magically make the English team better.

[Jon]

Despite everything that is going on in Australian cricket - injuries, loss of form, inept captaincy, poor sightscreens. The England team still has the ability to make them look like a competent, well-oiled, well-run machine. The only thing that England have left to make them even more of a laughing stock is for half the team to decamp to the ICL..... Win the Ashes - Who will lose the Ashes is the correct question?

[AM]

Are you seriously suggesting that letting Ponting influence selection would somehow cure the weaknesses of this Australian team?

Keeping the captain out of the selection is the best thing the Australians are doing right now, and we should follow suit. I don't think anyone could seriously argue that the English system has produced better selections.

Some of the most dismal selections of recent years have had the captain's fingerprints on them. Remember Panesar and Read getting dropped by captain and coach in favour of buddies Giles and Jones, who had done nothing since being dropped to merit reselection? And the recent near miss, where Pietersen wanted his old mate Vaughan, even though he's scored no runs since quitting the team?

It's all very predictable: If the captain is a selector, then there is likely to be excessive loyalty to friends. There is also an over-valuing of the 'good in the dressing room' factor, which has counted strongly against Shah, for some reason.

When the team's under pressure, blame is thrown every which way, and nobody knows who is responsible - remember the Pattinson affair?

And when players are dropped and then picked again they are playing with the suspicion that their captain may have spoken against them. And that's not good for the dressing room.

So create a selection panel to do the selecting, with absolutely clear responsibilities. Let captain and coach do the playing.

[Faustino]

I've long had doubts about Hayden's longevity and Ponting's captaincy; plenty of alternatives for the former, no obvious new captain.

Australia are in disarray - they even had to tack up sheets after the start of play today because a new entrance and a small sightscreen meant the batsman were distracted. But that's not enough for England to win the Ashes, they made a major contribution to their own downfall last time and lack the consistency, perseverance, guts and chutzpah to beat even the depleted Aussies.

And I agree, a three-Test series is like a best-of-three-sets Tennis final, it reduces the intensity of the struggle and the capacity to arise phoenix-like from adversity.

[Matt]

Clarke and Lee injuried and people expect that the Aussies can still win. I hae watched them in the last two tests and they could have won them.

Hayden will come good I bet and will punish us as revenge for all the rubbish he is putting up with now.

Once the Aussies have their injury problems sorted out then it will be "watch out world" all over again.

[Venk]

Well really we just have to accept Australia need to freshen up and that South Africa are the best team in the world by miles. They have that sort of ruthlessness that Australia had until Warne, McGrath and Langer retired.

I would expect it to be close between England and India for the number two spot but like all I hope England can just do it

[Chodi madan]

Yes aussies are on teh way out!
Looking forward to India taking over

[will]

cant see england doing better than a couple of draws or maybe 1 win.

2005 should have been a lifting off point for us, so we could have dominated world cricket like the aussies did for 20 years. but no we get drunk and decide to be mediocre

[Som]

The bigger they are the harder they fall and Australia fell with a thud that continues to echo through the cricket world. It was a cycle they had completed and while it would be foolish to dismiss them as nothing, they would remain just a quality side and just that. In a new world order, they would still thump England wherever they play and only South Africa and India have it in them to get the better of Punter & Party. England's Ashes dreams are little far-fetched.

[jondavluc]

Kap your a tool

[Richard]

Hayden is well past it, they need to bring in a new opener so that they can be ready for the Ashes. Ponting is obviously a class batsman but is a very poor captain. In all three of their series defeats under him, 05 Ashes, India and this one, he has looked clueless. But then, I doubt there is that much in the Aussie captain's handbook about losing. I reckon 99.99% of the praise for Australia's dominance falls not to Border, Taylor or Waugh but to McGrath and Warne. Without them they would have been a great team but not the greatest ever. Katich is a decent opener and their middle order of Ponting, Hussey & the over-rated Clarke is as good as anyones. But they lack a proven allrounder (Symonds is a batsmen/pie chucker and Watson has had hardly any tests) and their bowling without Clark looks toothless. Lee is past his best, Johnson is raw, Clark will be well suited to England but seems to have lost a lot of pace (from a low starting point) and they have no spinner worth the name (but neither do South Africa). I would be very confident of winning the Ashes but our team is barely any better. Cook gets a nose bleed when he gets to 60, Strauss seems to have re found his form as a nudger, Bell has lost the plot, Shah is unproven, Bopara is a champagne Charlie, Pietersen is class, Collingwoods form generally goes 0,0,0,1,0,2,120,1,0, Flintoff averages too low for a No.6, Prior is inexperienced but has looked ok so far and our bowlers are up in the air. Panesar seems to have been figured out, Anderson is as wayward as ever, Harmison likewise, Jones may never come back, Sidebottom is unproven against the best and Broard seems to miss something in test cricket that he has in ODI's. Should be close.

[Nickvb]

We need Simon Jones fit and firing down reverse swing at 90 mph to bring back the Ashes.

[sugwas]

C'mon! This Ozzie team is only in the series because of a bowler( MJ) and the Captain - who is not a good captain. England is going to win the Ashes - and just by bowling a disciplined line and batting with purpose. But, cricket is a funny game.

[Voetstoots]

Why has Ponting not yet done the dignified thing & fallen on his sword? Not only has he overseen a dramatic series defeat at home (conceeding all sorts of records, as listed above) but more importantly, his body language in the field has been bad, irritable, uninspiring - he no longer has the demeanour of a captain (if he ever had it). Also: his comments after the WACA test (re passengers in the team, etc) were uncalled for - yes, performances had been under par, but I bet those inexperienced players who were blamed & took the fall were trying their very best - SA just outplayed them on the day.

In addition, Michael Clarke looks ready to take over as captain - he is a very solid batsman & seems to have matured into a good all-round player - it is time to pass on not only the ICC Mace, but also the captain's mantle!

Remember how controversial it was when SA gave the captaincy to Smith 5 years ago, at the tender age of 22 (with ex-captain Pollock & other experienced players such as Kallis & Boucher still in the team)? And look who's smiling now...

Keep Ponting in as batsman - he's the best of his generation - but fire him as captain ASAP.

[Tom Regan]

The only way that England will stand a chance of competing with the Australians is if they sort out the bowling attack. A team low in confidence such as the aussies, is one that on its day does not need any chance to rebuild that confidence, what is needed is bowlers who can keep that confidence low and rattle them around, remove the comfort zone, becuase lets not forget, that aussie team still includes, Ponting, Hayden, Clarke, Hussey, etc etc are all capable of massive scores.
So to challenge the aussies, they must use bolwers that cause issues for the batsman, which they were unable to do in India, use tested bowlers, what about a certain M. Hoggard for a recall.
That may be the key factor, all the batsmen have to do then is survive, M. Johnson, whose figures boggle the mind and whose ferocity does the same to even the S.africans.

[Craig.L]

It's interesting that people say that SA could easily have lost the matches, most probably based on the fact that Australia had SA in trouble in both tests. But, in both tests SA had Australia in trouble in the Australian first innings too, and but for the Aussie's wagging tail the SA victories would have been greater. It is no fluke - the South Africa batsman and better man for man than their Australian counterparts and the same can be said for the bowlers. South Africa missed one crucial catch - Ponting early in his innings whereas the Australian fielding was rubbish.
SA just did the basics far better than Austrialia.

[Gerry2618]

South Africas win has brought a smile to every cricketer in the world.

[Innocent Abroad]

Perhaps KP made the right call after all - would he even get into this South African side?

[Hudson]

Haydos should not have been picked for Sydney. Australia has 4 test to set a team up to beat the Poms next year. the experimenting should start now with Hughes in the Sydney test. .... and.. the X factor is Stuart Clarke out injured. Would it have been a different story if he had been available to tie up one end just like McGrath used to

[AB]

Patrick, the worrying thing for Australia is not that they lost a home series (after all it had to happen some time), it is the manner of the loss. The bowling (and the fielding) has generally been poor both in India and at home against NZ and SA. While they may have accounted for an ordinary NZ side, the Australian bowlers haven't looked like actually putting the SA batting line-up away twice in either match despite being in potentially match winning positions. Admittedly, the pitches prepared in Perth and Melbourne haven't provided much assistance to the bowlers but still the SA bowlers showed what could be achieved with a little application and planning. As for the batting, possibly with the exception of Ponting, the Australians (especially Hayden) have failed to play the bowling on its merits. The English conditions may provide our bowlers with enough assistance to keep them competitive but, like 2005, our batting is likely to be undone by poor technique and a lack of application. I'm putting money on England to win back the Ashes. A little monetary gain will ease the inevitable pain of failure come late August.

[Chris]

These have been two riveting Tests, and a brilliant advert for proper cricket. S.A could have lost both but thanks to poor Australian captaincy, weak bowling and a never say die attitude from the S.Africans they pulled off two stunning victories. Ponting's record as captain is greatly flattered by having had Warne and McGrath at his disposal. Now he has a bunch of pie chuckers, he looks and is bereft of ideas. Strange too isn't it how many players get 'injured' when a team is doing badly. The Australian selectors are falling into the old English panic mode of selection - they pick a spinner (Krejza), then drop him, pick an inferior/safer spinner to replace him, then, because Sydney will turn, wonder if they should have dropped Krezja in the first place. All a bit of a shambles.

[craig.o]

Beware the wounded Kangaroo.We will be back.

[Vidhya]

There are no lovable top teams anymore. I remember feeling happy for Mark Taylor when he scored the hundred at Birmingham in 1997. In contrast, I immensely enjoy the predicament of Ponting and Hayden. Graeme Smith is insufferable in victory and if one is glad for SA, it is only because Aussies are worse. The presence of a Tendulkar or a Dravid in the Indian team is amply compensated by Harbhajan and the noisy fans.