ASHES REGAINED IN 14 DAYS....

Australia have regained the Ashes in only 14 days and that pretty much sums up England's horror show. Centuries from Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow had put England in a commanding position at 378/4 before familier frailties of English lower order resurfaced as they lost the last six wickets for 25 runs. 403 was not a bad total though but England were brought to realise that no total is good enough when you have Steven Smith in the opposition batting line up. England were right in the game untill the fall Shaun Marsh's wicket but a mammoth partnership between the skipper and returning Mitchell Marsh took the game completely away from England. English bowling looked toothless. Too many similar bowlers were very easy to handle as Steve Smith scored 239 runs to pile on the misery. James Anderson bowled well on the fourth morning but it was a bit too late as Australia declared with a lead beyond 250. Alastair Cook's disastrous series continued with another low score to his name. After a few glorious shots, England captain Joe Root fell to Nathan Lyon which even made The Barmy Army to go quite for a bit. James Vince scored a fluent fifty and then got an absolutely unplayable delivery from Mitchell Starc. Starc bowled the ball form around the wicket on the good length at 145 kph, it looked to be going towards wide leg slip but suddenly changed its direction and hit the top of off. They generally say that when the ball hits one of those cracks you have a very acute chance of getting out because it deviates so much that it misses the bat by a good foot and a half. This time though, it missed the bat by a foot and sent the off stump for a walk. Rain ended fourth day's play and there was a possibility of more rain on the fifth day as well. English players looked at the heaven and it stopped the play for 3 hours. Now it was upto English batsmen to bat out the remaining three and a half hours. When Hazlewood got a straight one to keep low and go past Bairstow's defence, England's hope of retaining the Ashes doomed to a great extent. The tail was long and it could not resist for more than 34 overs on the same pitch where Australia made 662. England gave a masterclass of how to lose grip on the match and get hammered in whatever time is available. This series has so many similarities to the one we had in 2013 and I am afraid the result is also going to identical as well.
    English batting looked very good in this match. Malan and Bairstow converted fifties into big ones which is a very good tick in the box. Root again failed to deliver in a must win game and Cook is looking to be in the twilight of his career. The concern to me is the fast bowling. Anderson, Broad and Woakes are all typical English bowlers. Craig Overton is the only hit the deck kind of a bowler who showed some promise. But I think England need a bowler who can extract a bit of zip from the wicket with some express pace. Someone like Mark Wood would be very effective or at least he will add a new dimension to the side. Moeen Ali has looked ineffective as ever in his career. While England have a lots of issues to address, Christmas has come early for Australia as they will look to make it 4-0 in the traditional boxing day test at MCG.