Cricinfo has some extremely laudatory articles up re:Johnson. Was he really that good?
He bowled accurately at express pace and there is not such of that currently around at test level. He deserves credit. England did bat without heart or head in a number of cases though. Only Bell and Carberry looks anything like the required class. KP fell for an effective plan. Many of the rest were awful. So it is probably a bit of both. The romance of having a terrifying extreme paceman out there in addition to Steyn means that the journos have something good to write though.
Once … 1936/37
1st Test Brisbane Australia lost by 322 runs
2nd Test Sydney Australia lost by innings & 22 runs
3rd Test Melbourne Australia won by 365 runs
4th Test Adelaide Australia won by 148 runs
5th Test Melbourne Australia won by innings & 200 runs
Also in both 1884/85 and 1894/95 England were 2-0 up, Australia levelled the series and England won the 5th Test.
In 1903/04 England were 2-0 up, Australia won the third Test, England won the 4th to win the Ashes and Australia won the 5th
Having watched each of those series in person they were enthralling, but I will concede the TV coverage was crap. 
You’ll notice too AK84, England have never comeback from 2-0 to get even a draw.
There is a decent chance of 5-0 here, I reckon. Despite showing more gumption in the second dig here, the pitch was nowhere near as pacy as the WACA will be and I expect Mitch The Mo will be rubbing his hands together at the prospect of getting into our fragile batting line up. At 3-0, especially if they get thumped again, you could well imagine heads going down and capitulation in the final two games.
I don’t think it will get quite that far - questioning the manhood of some of our middle order seemed to actually get them to prize their wickets in the 2nd innings here. They might be able to eke a draw out in Melbourne or Sydney. Still, history suggests that this is it in terms of deciding the destination of The Ashes - and a pretty meek surrender it has been too.
Another thing about the 1936-37 series was that England were on the verge of running away with the 3rd Test too - Australia had batted first and were about 7 - 180 when rain ruined the pitch. Bradman was able to declare at 9 - 200 or so which had just been transformed from a losing into an excellent score. For England, G. O. Allen declared at about 7 - 32 in the hope of picking up a few cheap wickets, but Bradman sent the tail-enders in first and only a couple of unimportant wickets fell by close of play. On the next day the pitch had dried out and the roller left Bradman the kind of wicket he could make a big score on, and that’s exactly what happened.
I haven’t been following this series that closely as I don’t have Sky (and haven’t the time/energy to sit up all night listening/watching anyway), but even at the start of the final day of the previous test I still held out some hope of seeing something encouraging for the remaining games - perhaps a couple of the England batsmen knuckling down and really making the Aussies work for the last few wickets. I didn’t seriously think a draw was ever on the cards from there, but to be all out in an hour was disappointing, especially when you see reports of two players getting out with big shots to the leg side off short balls, and Swann waving his bat around unnecessarily (at least he seemed appropriately annoyed with himself).
Perhaps there was a mindset in the dressing room of “well, we’ve lost this one so may as well treat it as batting practice and play a few shots”. If so, that was entirely wrong IMHO - it should have been “we know this one has probably gone but let’s make them work for it and try to occupy the crease for a long time”.
5-0 to the home team is certainly a possibility, I can’t see England getting a result at the WACA unless Johnson falls badly out of form, and one or two of our batsmen make good partnerships. I’d settle for a draw in the next test as a building block for the remainder of the series, at least it would leave us in with a chance, but I realise even that is optimistic.
I think the rule is - ‘If you lose the first 2 Tests of a series, and want to come back and win the last 3, make sure Don Bradman is in your side’.
Bradman’s scores in the last 3 tests included 270, 212, and 169.
The other rule, so far as I remember from the account of this series in Close of Play, Leslie Ames’s autobiography, is “The weather giveth and the weather taketh away” - England had the better of the luck in the first two and then the worse in the remainder. Not such an issue these days.
Damn, the days before covered pitches were a nightmare.
The third test is about to start and, unsurprisingly, Bresnan replaces Panesar.
My optimism about the Australian team seems to have developed an inverse relationship to their success. Despite the results so far and England’s record at the WACA, I’m concerned that Australia are over-reliant on two men - Clarke and Johnson. If either of them don’t fire or get injured, England could regain some momentum in this match.
Australia to bat first. There’s a good chance that Australia’s top order will fall cheaply to Anderson, Broad and Bresnan here.
Australia 326/6 at stumps, having recovered from 143/5.
England were one wicket away from having a very good day and finished looking bedraggled and uninspired.
A day to add weight to the argument that neither of these teams is particularly competent.
Those with a preference for the shorter styles of game would have recognised most of the morning session with boundaries and wickets in rapid succession. The Aussie total included 43 4s and 5 6s. It was hardly surprising that the 3 T20 style batsmen in the line-up (Warner, Watson and Bailey) came to ignominious ends with distinctly average shot selection.
Don’t underestimate the batting contribution of Brad Haddin (320 @80). His consistency compared to Prior’s (69 @18) have been key in Australian recoveries from shonky starts to set competitive totals.
This is completely amiss. Warner batted perfectly sensibly and just top edged a shot that otherwise would have gone straight to the fence, the other two played far, far less than average shots because they are crap.
From an England point of view, today seemed very similar to the Day 1s of the previous tests. Make some inroads, fail to capitalise, Oz in the box seat. We don’t look good when the Kookaburra goes a bit soft/gets a bit old. Last series in Australia, the England bowlers seemed to be in better form but also able to reverse the ball with a bit more alacrity, which cause more issues for the Oz batsmen coming in down the order.
Difficult to see how England are going to win this Test from here, especially given the rate at which Australia scored suggests that the pitch is probably alright to bat on (and England have to actually prove that is the case for both sides for once this series).
You have half the side out at less than 150 and do not capitalise? Yeah, you deserve rogering is coming.
And that’s basically the third Test in a row we’ve done it. :smack:
Another day slips by. Another firmly won by Australia. With the cracks opening up in the wicket and England having to bat last on this deck, this is going to be all over by lunch on Day 5 at the latest.
5-0 is a serious possibility. The English batting effort in this series has been awful. We’re nearly at the exact had way point of the series and Mitchell Johnson has still outscored every English batsman.
I wouldn’t be so quick to write this game off yet. I always thought that Australia might succumb to some hubris after the second Test, and struggle or actually lose this one. After 15 overs each Johnson is 0/43 compared to Harris 1/26 , I think he’s starting to believe the hype and believes all he has to do is bowl fast and the English will get themselves out. Our middle/late order kicked on and England’s can too on the same wicket. We’ll have to actively bowl them out, not just sit back and assume it will occur.
Ok. Can I write it off now? We have been abject. Again. Too few runs with the bat and then dropping chances in the field today. As I type Oz are 320 to the good and probably already have enough runs to win the game given England’s performances in the series. Warner, Clarke and Haddin together have out scored the entire England team in aggregate in this series. We have players who have equal talent to these guys but they have played awful shots and struggled to cope on wickets that Australia have scored big runs on.
This has been meek surrender. England have been more disappointing in this series than any I can remember. At least the late 90s sides had the “benefit” of some rubbish cricketers in their midst, so were expected to be poor. I don’t see how they are going to turn it around either. We have been bullied pretty much throughout the series and instead of fighting, look like we want to come home.
This might be Flower’s final series. If so, I wish him the best. This series shouldn’t negate the great things he has done with the team during his tenure, even if we are looking down the barrel of 5-0 here.
I’m planning on being at the SCG for the Fifth Test. I hope every player is out there doing his best to win, regardless of the result at the WACA or the MCG.
Loves me some cricket. If I can talk the spouse into it, I might even manage a one day at the SCG as well.
The 2007 Ashes series was kinda similar, to be honest. Won at home (in 2005, though, not the same year), and then went to Aus full of hope… and got stuffed.