FIFTH TEST - FIFTH DAY

To the victor go the spoils. The 2010/11 England Ashes team have written their names into history.

Today was the day when the suffering ended.

Much like a terminally ill patient on life support, the Australians flatlined and England rejoiced along with their travelling band of supporters the Barmy Army and their camp followers dancing on the grave that is Australian cricket.

To England, yet again I congratulate you on a splended series in all aspects of the game. From daring batting, to fantastic bowling and sure handed fielding, you were a class above in all departments - and who other than the most supremely optimistic English supporter could have predicted that England would so comprehensively outplay Australia in every facet of the game and record three crushing victories to break and then set all kinds of astonishing records?

Celebrate hard - you all deserved it.

As for Australia, other than a little cameo partnership between Steve Smith and Peter Siddle which merely added to the English carnival atmosphere, today provided nothing more than being the fall guy to the main act. Siddle made an entertaining forty three, Beer was bowled by Tremlett for two and Steve Smith was stranded, unbeaten on fifty three.

A third innings loss made this the worst Ashes series loss Australia has ever experienced in terms of being hammered from pillar to post.

Many Australian players played their last test today, or at the very least their last Ashes test as the team that will take on England in England in 2013 will be vastly different in composition.

Ricky Ponting had his worst series with the bat in many a year and calls for his retirement grow louder by the day. Even if Ponting plays on, it is very hard seeing him around in 2013. Simon Katich has been an honourable servant, but his time is up too. Form is not his worry, but age is in this new era.

What of Mike Hussey? This series turned out to be Hussey's finest hour in terms of trying to hold a faltering batting order together in the face of insurmountable odds. Hussey's heroics cannot conceal the fact that his previous two years were mediocre at best. Was this Hussey back in vintage form - or merely one last golden summer to say goodbye to an adoring public in the only way he knows how?

One senses that Hussey's baggy green would have to be prized from his dead hand, such is his fanaticism to the cause. Honourable warrior that he might be, even Hussey is not immune to father time. May play on, but another year may be one year too long.

Ben Hilfenhaus was the bowler of the series in the 2009 edition of the Ashes when he took 22 wickets at 27.45. In this series, his career has probably been ended by the battering he took with his paltry 7 wickets costing 59.28 runs apeace. Very hard to see Hilfy coming back from that.

Peter Siddle was like a pack horse; prepared to carry the load and bowl long spells, but not a genuine strike bowler. Two six wicket hauls in the series; the first containing a spectacular Ashes hattrick in Brisbane and the second a vain effort in a losing cause in Melbourne in the fourth test - but nothing much in between. 20 wickets at 30.80 in the 2009 Ashes was a reasonable return for a bowler of his type, but 14 wickets at 34.57 in this series was simply not good enough when you consider twelve of those wickets came in two innings. Will be persisted with in light of the fact that there is not exactly a conga line of fast bowlers in the country pushing for selection.

Now we come to Mitchell Johnson...where does one start? A saggy shouldered performance in Brisbane led to his axing, missing the Adelaide debacle perhaps fortuitously. Came back like a man possessed in Perth where he almost won the test single handedly. Johnson then returned to type and only took wickets when batsmen got careless rather than any trick of the hand.

For all his prodigious talents, Johnson has damaged his brand, probably perminantly. For a player who feeds on confidence like no other Australian fast bowler in memory, he is almost totally devoid of the stuff. Can he be resurrected? It does not look promising.

The real ace in the pack however is Doug "the rug" Bollinger. Australia's one true strike bowler since the retirements of McGrath, Lee and the sulking reticence of Shaun Tait who prefers the IPL rupee over representing his country. Doug Bollinger's career test bowling average of 25.92 with a strike rate of a wicket every 48 balls is world class - but an IPL injury exacerbated in India meant an enforced lay off where Bollinger lost all his match fitness and when he was brought back in Adelaide, he looked but a shadow of the bowler of twelve months ago.

Much discussion has taken place in the media and on talk back radio as to what has caused Australian batsmen who hitherto had been technically reliable to suddenly be suspect to anything outside off stump. ABC commentator Kerry O'Keefe suggested that Australian batsmen are addicted to the bowling machine which he believes encourages flashy drives.

Utter tripe on a number of fronts.

Firstly, the English batsmen would spend just as much time practicing on bowling machinesnas their Australian counter parts and secondly, the late Bob Woolmer stated that practice with a bowling machine is the best method to groove shots.

The real reason was pin pointed by Steve Waugh and Geoffrey Boycott. Both stated unequivocally that Twenty20 has ruined the techniques of Australian batsmen.

Steve Waugh has remained respectfully silent on Australian cricket matters since he retired seven years ago. He broke his silence to slam the Twenty20 infused techniques of Australian batsmen who feel a need to play at every ball rather than leave balls outside offstump well alone. In Twenty20, a batsman must play at every ball, especially those wide of off stump as an edge will usually fly through the vacant slips area for a boundary. In test cricket, it is inviting disaster.

Geoffrey Boycott echoed those sentiments as well during an interview on ABC radio. He stated that he was always stunned when he walks past net sessions these days and he observes batsmen playing Harlem Globetrotter strokes in the air. He recalled his Yorkshire beginnings where an old hand would admonish him if he ever played a shot in the air in the nets with "you'll only get out that way son, keep it along the ground". Boycott was certain that Twenty20 had ruined the techniques of many of the Australian top order batsmen - and it is impossible to disagree.

Phil Hughes is a case in point. When Hughes made his debut against South Africa, he did not flash indescriminately at every ball outside off stump from Steyn, Morkel, Ntini and Kallis. Hughes technique was still anything but copybook, but he chose his moments well. The player we see today is fighting the demons of Twenty20 and no longer has any discretion of when to play and when to leave. Even allowing for the fact that he was already horribly out of form and should not have been brought back, Hughes will need to do alot of remedial work if he is to ever recapture his early career form where he looked a world beater.

Michael Clarke is another that the curse of Twenty20 has claimed with his formerly safe technique totally destroyed by the shortest form of the game. Batting is very much an instinctive trigger movement discipline where the "flash at every ball outside off" mentality is a habit that cannot easily be broken unless you have the monastic abstinence of a Mike Hussey.

It is no surprise that neither Cook, Strauss nor Trott bother with Twenty20. It is also no surprise that Michael Clarke has suddenly announced his retirement from Twenty20. Whether he was pushed or he volunteered is irrelevent, Clarke must rebuild his technique back to what it once was, not just if he aspires to be captain, but simply to hold his place in the team.

I could go on and on and on as to what needs to happen for Australia to regain their position in the top echelon, but today is neither the time, nor the place and also that would only be detracting on a wonderful achievement by England - and today is rightfully their day.

Congratulations.

FIFTH TEST - DAY FOUR

Comedy capers at the SCG. Watson run out by the length of the pitch.

Just when Australian supporters thought things couldn't get much worse, Australia found new lows that no-one could have conceived. Australian cricket has been exposed for all the lack of forward planning by the administrators and selectors in the deluded belief that the Australian system was infallible and recession proof.

It wasn't and it isn't.

If Australia were a financial institution, they would be Lehman Brothers. If Cricket Australia were a corporation, they would be Enron.

The not out over night batsmen Prior and Bresnan continued on their merry way this morning as if they were batting in a benefit match - crashing boundaries, having a few laughs and generally being untroubled by anything that the hapless Australian bowlers served up. When the new ball came, it promptly went - crashing into the advertising hoardings beyond the boundary.

Prior notched a belated Ashes century - everyone else was getting one of those and Bresnan must have been despondent that he threw his wicket away for thirty five, but this only brought Swann to the wicket and he also threw his bat around like there was a plane to catch.

The English innings finally ended in the afternoon at 644 - England's highest score on Australian shores eclipsing Chapman's all conquering 1928/29 outfit which until recently held all manner of records which have since been eclipsed by this current English outfit.

So Australia's last innings of this sorry series commenced after something like six sessions chasing leather around the field. The brief was simple - bat for close to five sessions to draw the game and save some face or capitulate meekly and be the subject of derision from your fellow cricket mad countrymen.

Shane Watson decided that all out attack was the best method of defence as he seized on anything short and dispatched it with brutal power to the fence. Phil Hughes on the other hand was a study in concentration, hoping to tough it out and resist his primordial instincts to flash outside off stump at any ball that has width and to a good many that don't.

After thirty eight barn storming runs in as many balls, Shane Watson fell as Shane Watson does - stupidly. Hughes pushed a ball into the outfield that was a regulation single or an extremely sharp two on the proviso that both batsmen run the first run hard. Hughes jogged through for what he thought would only be a single when to his chagrin he turned and saw Shane Watson charging straight back at him at break neck speed and the throw from the outfield already in flight towards the danger end. So Hughes - rightly or wrongly - stood his ground and Shane Watson was run out by the length of the pitch as he stood face to face with the inert Hughes at the same end.

Top order wickets must be preserved with the utmost of care, and this latest impersonation of the Keystone Kops only underlined the distinct lack of professionalism on display by the Australian top order in stark contrast with their English counterparts.

Hughes was the next to fall when he was out again edging behind to Prior. Though to be fair, Bresnan did bowl a marvelous delivery that committed Hughes to a stroke and then deviated enough to catch the edge of the bat. Hughes unhappy series ended on yet another failure - this time thirteen.

Khawaja and Clarke attempted a recovery mission with Clarke playing some sparkling shots and Khawaja more circumspect defending with discipline. The pair added sixty five when Khawaja pushed away from is body at a delivery from Anderson that he easily could and should have left alone. Khawaja's promising innings was cut short at twenty one and it is yet another stepping stone in the steep learning curve of this young batsman.

The mood of the English team and the sizeable contingent of English supporters in the SCG looking on was now akin to a carnival type atmosphere. A wicket was expected with every ball with theatrical ooohs and aaahs and the timid - and all but beaten - Australian batsmen looked like a vivid transvision definition of road kill.

A clearly upset Clarke was dismissed for forty one and was visibly admonishing himself for his error. It was yet another regulation edge to the keeper off Anderson who delivered his trademark sucker punch that the Australian batsmen fell for time and time again. Australia were not for the first time in the series reeling.

A mentally fatigued Hussey fell soon after for twelve to a tired and injudicious cut shot straight to gully. Even Hussey had lost the will to fight on and try and save the unsaveable. Australia's get out of jail card had checked out.

Brad Haddin defiantly blazed away, but one clearly sensed that his innings was always going to be fleeting and he duly succumbed edging to his counterpart for thirty to the deserving Tremlett who then picked up Mitchell Johnson the very next ball.

Steve Smith and a game Peter Siddle defied the English attack until stumps to drag the test into a fifth day and an academic conclusion.

On a day when Australian fans were hoping to see some act of defiance or counter attack to give some encouragement for the future if nothing else, nothing of the sort eventuated. Absolutely nothing in the wreckage that is Australian cricket appears to be salvageable at this time and tomorrow we await the sad denouement to a one sided series.

FIFTH TEST - DAY THREE

The limpet like Cook batted on and on and...

Today was yet another day of records for the touring Englishmen as they piled on the misery as the Australian attack looked more impotent than ever. There was controversy too with some incidents that will be talked about for years to come.

The Australians harboured some hopes of getting back into the game when they removed both the night watchman Anderson and the disappointing Collingwood fairly early on to have England 5 for 226 and still fifty four runs behind. However, that is as close as Australia got.

Bell joined the patient Cook and as the later ground on, the former played with pristine technique caressing cover drives to the fence, flicking balls off his pads through mid wicket. If Cook's innings was one of ruthless efficiency, Bell's innings was more the work of an artist in peak creativity.

"Did I catch that?" Even Hughes didn't look convinced.

Cook finally fell for an epic 189 that was only eleven runs short of a second double century for the series and thus joining the rarefied company of Sir Walter Hammond as the only other Englishman to have to scored two Ashes double centuries in the one series. The innings was not without it's moments of controversy with the fortunate let off at forty six when debutant Beer was found to have over stepped when Cook had been caught in the deep and again while Cook was on ninety nine he turned a ball to short leg to Phil Hughes who claimed the catch on the half volley. Cook stood his ground and replay's showed that the ball clearly bounced in front of Hughes.

To be fair Hughes at first seemed hesitant to claim the catch and it was only when other team mates assured him that it looked clean that he tossed the ball in the air. In the age of slow motion replays, close ups and more importantly reviews, such appeals never stand up to scrutiny.

This incident added irony to proceedings as Phil Hughes test career was placed into hiatus twenty months ago when England skipper Andrew Strauss claimed an identical one bounce catch to dismiss Phil Hughes at Lords for sixteen during the 2009 series. Fleet Street have branded young Hughes a cheat. In light of what Strauss did in the last series and what Ian Bell did later in the day - it is only cheating when an Australian is involved it seems.

Bell controversially refers his alleged nick behind off Watson.

Which brings us to the second controversial incident for the day - one that will be discussed for a while to come. Ian Bell seemed to be careering to his first Ashes century when he faintly edged a delivery from Watson through to Haddin. While it was a faint nick, it still was loud enough to be heard through the stump mic and certainly loud enough for all the Australian players to go up as one and Aleem Dar to correctly adjudicate to the affirmative.

Bell dejectedly walked over to batting partner Prior to seek counsel and almost in hope requested a review - either in the hope of the faint nick not showing on hot spot, or perhaps the bowler overstepping the popping crease.

As luck would have it, nothing significant showed up on hot spot. Later there was some suggestion that the faintest of flickers momentarily registered on the edge of the bat as the ball passed by, but it appeared inconclusive on the available evidence at that moment and Dar lost his nerve and reversed his earlier decision and thus Bell was reprieved.

Only moments later, Snicko clearly indicated that Bell had in fact edged the delivery after all. So we had the absurd situation where the review system overturned a decision that the umpire - in this case Dar - had correctly adjudicated with his naked eye and rather than the intended prevention of the howler, the UDRS has unwittingly created one.

Surely a first.

No doubt the detractors of the third umpire video review will point to this as proof that no system is completely fool proof.

Ian Bell duly brought up his maiden Ashes century with rare style and sadly amongst the cheers of the Barmy Army there were boos from angry Australian supporters and a noteable lack of appreciation from the Australians in the field at Bell's perceived dishonesty. Ian Bell has been one of the form batsmen all series and an Ashes hundred was well over due and thoroughly deserved. So it is a pity that this marvellous innings should be footnoted in such a way, for beyond the controversy, it was an innings of sublime class.

Bell finally fell in the penultimate over before stumps when he attempted one big shot too many and edged a Johnson delivery to Clarke to be on his way for a peerless 115.

With a lead of 208, England are in complete command and will surely wrap up the test either later tomorrow or early on day five to win the series comprehensively 3-1...a fair reflection of the dominance of the Englishmen and the ineptness of the Australian's.

Prior to this series, no Australian XI had succumbed to more than one innings defeat on Australian soil. With two such defeats already under their belt, there is a strong possibility that they may add an unwanted third here in Sydney such is the hopelessness of their situation.

England have registered four innings of over 400 in five tests against Australia on Australian soil - and one has to go back to the days when Chapman was at the helm in 1928/29 for the only other time that has occurred.

For all the records in this series, one would have to be an Englishman to fully enjoy this one sided carnage as the contest has largely been lacking. Sometimes there has to be a massive fall from grace before a new dawn can emerge - and all Australian's are hoping that something positive will eventually come from all this wreckage.

FIFTH TEST - DAY TWO

Mitchell Johnson reprised his Perth batting form with a scintillating 53.

In keeping with the general tone of this series, today's day of play had some interesting twists and turns which make test cricket the ultimate form of the game.

Early in the first session Australia hoped that Hussey and Haddin would continue their heroics from earlier in the series and put on a decent partnership in order to help Australia post a competitive total. but it was not to be with Haddin falling early for six edging Anderson to Prior to a delivery that again, could have been left alone.

Steve Smith joined Mike Hussey at the crease and the two set about rebuilding the innings in a laborious manner due to some tight bowling. Paul Collingwood was thrown the ball to bowl some tight overs before the new ball was taken and after tying down Mike Hussey with some tight lines, Collingwood induced a mistake from Hussey with his last ball of his spell when Hussey edged onto his thigh and the ball ricocheted onto his leg bail in a freakish dismissal. Despite the element of luck, the plan to frustrate Hussey was ultimately brilliantly conceived by Strauss and splendidly executed by Collingwood.

Steve Smith was the next to go after an extremely subdued innings of eighteen when he parried a delivery from Anderson straight to Collingwood. Smith seemed to be trying to make a point that he could bat in an orthodox and disciplined manner rather than simply bludgeon the ball to all parts. With the benefit of hindsight, I am sure Smith would have opted to bat in his usual swashbuckling manner as he is more effective and and more at home being aggressive, not to mention that he is also more productive on the scoreboard as well.

Peter Siddle came and went quickly for two when he also perished to Anderson when he edged that bowler to Strauss. By now the score was a parlous 8 for 189 and Australia were in more trouble than a one legged man in a backside kicking contest.

Enter stage left Mitchell Johnson who together with a marvellous supporting cameo from Ben Hilfenhaus flayed the English attack in a remarkable counter attack that produced a partnership of seventy six priceless runs. Johnson eventually perished for a crowd pleasing fifty three when he went to the well once too often and was bowled by the persistent Bresnan.

Hilfenhaus tried to maintain the rage with new boy Beer keeping him company, but he too went for one big shot too many and succumbed to Anderson who picked up his fourth wicket by cleaning up the tail. Hilfenhaus trooped off with a valuable thirty four to his name and Australia's total a far more palatable 280 when it could have been much, much worse.

Still, the old saying in cricket circles is that you never know what is a good score until both teams have batted, and with the unbridled glee that Strauss tore into the assorted long hops, telegraphed bouncers and half volleys from Hilfenhaus and Johnson, it was apparent that 280 was nowhere near enough.

England's score raced with breakneck speed to ninety eight when Strauss was bowled by a brilliant unplayable delivery by the hitherto impotent Hilfenhaus for a scorching sixty scored off a remarkable fifty eight deliveries.

Andrew Strauss murdered the pedestrian Australian attack for a better than a run a ball 60.

Jonathan Trott who has been nothing short of Bradmanesque this summer was astonishingly dismissed for a duck when he played a Johnson delivery onto his stumps much to the crowds shock and the Australian teams joy. At 2 for 99, the Australian's suddenly sensed a Perth style comeback in the back end of the last session - but such aspirations were put on hold by Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen who batted with great purpose.

Michael Beer momentarily joined the ranks of test wicket takers when he flighted a delivery to Cook who could not resist the urge to drive over the top and miscued an easy catch to Hilfenhaus. As the Australian players congregated around the understandably excited Beer, umpire Billy Bowden requested a replay to confirm his suspicion that Beer may have overstepped the popping crease - and much to the Australian's collective chagrin, the replay confirmed Bowden's suspicion to be on the money and a bemused Cook survived.

The final wicket to fall for the day was Pietersen who could not resist the adrenalin surge through his veins as he hooked a bouncer from Johnson that was outside off stump straight to Beer at deep backward square leg to waste an impressive start of thirty six.

Anderson sent in as night watchman safely saw out the day with Cook to guide England to the high ground with a score of 3 for 167. Australia simply need to engineer an English batting collapse tomorrow to have any hope of winning the game. For England, the task is simple, pass Australia's total and then bat on and post a healthy lead.

If England take a one hundred run plus lead, one would be inclined to believe that Australia would have trouble in posting a competitive total to defend in the fourth innings. Still, stranger things have happened in this series.

FIFTH ASHES TEST - DAY ONE

An overcast first day was brightened by the assured debut of Usman Khawaja.

All eyes today were on the beleaguered Australian test team who went into this test without their talismanic skipper Ricky Ponting who has succumbed to his finger injury. This opened the door for Michael Clarke to take over the reins of the test captaincy.

Michael Clarke becomes the forty third test captain of Australia - a position some would say is considered - only half joking - more important than that of the Prime Minister of Australia. Clarke's form since moving up the order from five to four has been horrendous, but in the absence of any other clear cut candidates in this under performing Australian team, Clarke has acceded to the top job almost by default.

Making their debut's for Australia in this test are the batting prodigy Usman Khawaja and the unheralded and relatively unknown left arm tweaker Michael Beer. Khawaja has been knocking on the door of test selection since last summer and is a worthy inclusion. Michael Beer on the other hand is well known only for being a completely illogical selection by the National Selection Panel. I can only hope that Beer makes me eat my words.

On an overcast morning suggesting that there would be considerable life in the pitch in the first session, it came as something of a surprise that upon winning the toss Michael Clarke in his first act as Skipper chose to bat under grey skies. This was perhaps a sign that the Australian camp are jittery at facing Swann on a fourth innings turner at the SCG.

Shane Watson and Phil Hughes strode out with a big act to follow after all the spectacular first session batting collapses this summer. Much to their credit, both batsmen played with remarkable restraint completely alien to their normal attacking games.

The pitch was rather challenging, but both Watson and Hughes advanced the score slowly but surely in a risk free manner. The opening stand had reached a commendable fifty five when Hughes faced up to the last over by Tremlett before lunch when off the third ball Hughes hung the bat outside his body to a delivery that he had left alone all morning, only for it to catch the edge of his bat and fly straight to Collingwood at third slip.

Hughes thumped his bat into his pad in anger at himself as he walked off with all the players following him for the lunch interval. Hughes innings of thirty one had been an innings of maturity and promise from the young opener. In terms of technique, there were great signs in the manner in which Hughes went about his business, suggesting better days lay ahead.

New boy Usman Khawaja must have had a rather nervy lunch as he waited for the second session to start and what would be the start to his test career. The debutant number three was born in Islamabad and moved with his cricket mad family to Australia as a toddler. Now he was the first Australian of Pakistani origin and Muslim persuasion to pull on the baggy green cap...how would the Australian public take to him?

Usman Khawaja played some wonderful strokes in his debut innings of 37.

The wait was worth it, as Khawaja strode to the wicket, the 42,000 first day Sydney crowd gave him a standing ovation all the way to the wicket that must surely have moved him and told him something - Australia was behind him.

Tremlett delivered Khawaja's first ball in test cricket and the young lad clipped the ball to leg for two to tumultuous applause from the stands. The very next ball Tremlett bowled a bouncer and the young left hander swivelled and played a delightful hook shot for four runs to the delirious acclaim of the crowd. I involuntarily uttered the words "a star is born!" I am sure many around Australia were thinking the same thing.

There was something about Khawaja today that reminded me of Brian Charles Lara - sacrilegious as it may be to make comparisons. I am not sure whether it was the high back lift, the crouched stance, or the easy stroke play - but Usman Khawaja simply oozed class. In Australian cricket's dark hour, a new hero has emerged like a ray of sunlight.

Khawaja's mother was seen in the stands to be whispering her incantations to the almighty Allah to assist her son. All around the nation, Australian cricket followers of many different religious persuasions - and some atheists too one imagines joined Mrs Khawaja in uttering hasty orisons to the almighty. A mothers prayers were answered, and with Usman's cool assurance at the crease, a nations prayers were answered too.

Watson and Khawaja put on a valuable fifty run stand when Watson who had been strangely subdued all day finally fell when he edged a widish delivery from Bresnan to slip that like Hughes earlier - Watson could have left well alone. As the ball left the edge of Watson's bat, Watson audibly groaned an exasperated "oh no" that was picked up by the stump mic. Watson's innings of forty five was yet another innings of unrequited reward for effort in a litany of unfulfilled starts this summer.

This brought new captain Michael Clarke to the wicket in a situation that was crying out for a captains knock. Sadly, straight after the rain delay Clarke cut a ball too close to him straight to Anderson at gully at an easy catchable height. Clarke's run of outs continued as he perished for four.

Hussey joined Khawaja in the middle and the young tyro and the old pro were left with the task of rebuilding Australia's innings which hit some turbulence after the promising opening stand of Hughes and Watson. It was with some sadness that Khawaja's debut knock came to an end when he top edged an ambitious sweep to Trott at square leg to be out for a polished thirty seven.

As Khawaja left the field of combat to a standing ovation, he must have been furious with himself at his sudden break in concentration as the rain started to fall on him and the rest of the players left the field for the last time in a rain truncated first day. Hussey remained twelve not out and Australia were now a precarious 4 for 135.

For England, both Tremlett and Bresnan bowled splendidly, whilst Anderson was not his usual self. England will feel that they took the honours on the first day - but the Australian batsmen all contributed to their own demise and they all will be disappointed with themselves.

Australia has endured a nightmare summer, but today amidst the Sydney gloom, perhaps a few rays of light have broken through to reveal a promising future.

FOURTH TEST - DAY FOUR

Meters away - worlds apart. Brad Haddin slumps as England's victorious cricketers celebrate.

Today England retained the Ashes in emphatic style by dominating Australia in virtually every facet of the game.

There, I have said it.

It hurts, but it is the truth. This England team (I dare not call them "English") has been the best prepared, the most focused and collectively, the most in-form I have seen an England touring team in Australia in my life time.

From their opening batsmen to their revolving door seam bowling attack, they have been comfortably ahead of Australia...only Brad Haddin and Mike Hussey could make a case for being better performed than their direct counterparts Prior and Collingwood.

Johnson departed quickly this morning before Haddin and Siddle had a hit and giggle that piled on some low pressure, inconsequential runs that merely delayed the celebrations for a time, but it was all to no avail as England predictably ran out easy winners by an innings and 157 runs...a drubbing in anyone’s language.

To England go my sincere congratulations on a professional job that was clinical in it's execution. Well done, you thoroughly deserve it.

If I may, I wish to examine what has gone wrong with Australian cricket that has seen our national team not merely lose two tests, but the cause and effect of the heavy manner in which those tests were lost and with it any hope of reclaiming the Ashes.

If you are a delighted English cricket supporter, you may stop reading now, as our misery is not your problem. Enjoy yourself, for we Australians are about to enter a period of introspection that will see more casualties than a bloody gangland war.

If you are a despondent Aussie, read on.

If the English football team and the New Zealand All Blacks are the flag ships of their respective nations, then the Australian cricket team is the standard bearer for the Australian nation. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to suggest that there is alot of sadness and indeed anger at how they have performed this summer from across this expansive country.

Everywhere, Australians are asking; why?

My first broad side must go to Cricket Australia who in their previous guise promised that the en-mass retirements of Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh and the resultant collapse of our international fortunes in their vortex would never be allowed to happen again. In fact, as Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist etc were reaching the end of their glorious careers, the CA officials smugly informed us that Australian first class cricket was brimming with talent and that all would be OK. Sure, Shane Warne's aren't discovered everyday, but by and large, we would not fall into any kind of trough. We would remain number one, or somewhere close to it.

How embarrassingly wrong were they?

In all their smugness and money counting stupor, they completely misread where everything was inevitably heading. To paraphrase a friend...we aren't falling, we have fallen! The bottom hasn't fallen away, it has disappeared!

My next bake is reserved for the National Selection Panel headed by Andrew Hilditch and his band of merry incompetent buffoons. These slow witted dullards think that "succession planning" is organizing who goes second drop in the batting order.

Andrew Hilditch is delusional at the best of times, but he has proved himself to be a comedian too - "we selected Michael Beer because he has local knowledge of the WACA ground and conditions" when in fact he had just moved over from Victoria only a few months before and in reality had barely any idea of where to find the change rooms.

The criminal negligence displayed by the selection panel will be a topic of heated discussion across the length and breadth of this great country for many years to come. If I were any of messieurs Hilditch, Boon and Cox, I would consider going into some kind of fugitive protection program and go into hiding in the comparative anonymity of the USA living amongst 300 million American Citizens who do not give a hoot about cricket.

The selection panel must all resign post haste. Fall on your sword boys, because if you stay any longer, it will only get ugly. Just go.

The other member of the set up who has flown under the radar has been national coach Tim Nielsen. As respected cricket commentator and journalist Gideon Haigh noted this afternoon in an interview on SEN radio, "Nielsen was handed a three year extension to his contract before this current series! Given that his team's performance of the last few years has been less than satisfactory, this was an amazing decision by those at CA. If Nielsen were an AFL coach with his record over the last couple of years, he simply wouldn't have a job right now".

Or words to that effect.

The selectors must go.

The coach must go.

Many at Cricket Australia who have been dozing at their desks in recent years without noticing the initially imperceptible decline and more recently, the free fall, of Australian cricket must do the honourable thing and resign.

Australian cricket is rotten to the core right now and big changes are needed just to be competitive going forward let alone regaining number one status.

How one Sydney newspaper reported the fans anger.

OK, we have tackled the off field puppeteers who have been guilty of negligence, but what of the dearth of talented young cricketers? The Sheffield Shield was once described as a cricketing conveyor belt producing talent for the test team on demand.

Just place your order gents.

Now, there seems to be either journeymen who are in their early to mid thirties plying their trade, or young tyros with potential who are either in their teens or early twenties and are not yet ready for higher honours. In between there is a "donut". The critical age group where most test players are typically drawn from.

How the hell did this happen?

Leaving aside the negligence of those in charge that I have already touched upon, there is a simpler reason why the above has occurred. Back in the late 1990's the Australian test players threatened strike action in order to obtain a better deal for the ordinary Australian first class cricketer who was a poor relation compared to his fully professional English County Cricket cousin.

After the new deal was struck, Australian first class players were placed on annual contracts and guaranteed minimum annual salaries. I think the minimum salary was about $80,000 AUSD per annum, thus making first class cricket a professional occupation compared to it's pauper past.

The effects of this were far reaching, but not all the outcomes were positive as we are about to see. On the one hand, first class cricketers could concentrate on their cricket without having to worry about how they were going to pay the rent or concerning themselves with getting a mundane disposable job in the off season. That was the positive and the hoped for outcome by the idealistic test cricketers who fought for their comrades in arms.

But there was a side effect that no one anticipated from this landmark change in Australian domestic cricket. The unforeseen result was a kind of upsetting of the equilibrium of the Australian First Class scene on a few fronts.

1/ Because playing first class cricket had become an occupation, players were not abandoning mediocre careers in their mid twenties to "get a real job" as their cricketing ancestors had done before them in Australia. Instead they became journeymen and continued plying their trade for their state teams well into their thirties and even into their mid to late thirties in extreme cases.

2/As a result of the above situation, the tradition of the teenaged first class cricketer had started to almost disappear. State selectors and administrators obsessed with winning the Sheffield Shield were more inclined to stick with late twenties or thirty something journeymen rather than punting on extreme youth and waiting for a pay off. In recent times NSW has been the exception to this rule, but other states have barely registered that they have contributed to the killing of Australian test cricket.

3/ The net result of the above two points has lead to the fact that the Australian test team which had started to reach it's use by date by 2008 at the latest was not able to be effectively topped up with exciting young talent, simply because there was very little young talent in the Sheffield Shield that was of the quality required to take the next step.

To illustrate my point, the all conquering Victorian bowling line up of Dirk Nannes (35), Shane Harwood (37), Bryce McGain (39) and Peter Siddle (26) which swept all before them in spearheading Victoria's assault on the Sheffield Shield, One Day titles etc. were decidedly lopsided in one critical area.

The numbers in brackets are their ages.

Unsurprisingly, Peter Siddle is the only one of that quartet who is in the correct age to become a regular test performer, even though it could be argued that Nannes was and still is the better bowler. Dirk Nannes did not make his first class debut until he was twenty nine - what future is there in selecting rookies at such an advanced age?

Sure, Nannes was a pro skier in his twenties traversing the slopes of the world, so he may be an exception to the rule, but Harwood was twenty eight when he made his first class debut and McGain was thirty - what was holding them back from being selected earlier?

Throw in Clint McKay who made his debut at the "youthful" age of twenty four and you have a bowling group that have largely missed the bus. Only Siddle was blooded young and only Siddle has gone onto a remotely sustainable test career.

Australian cricket fans have long envied the ability of Pakistan and India to pluck a teenaged pace bowling prodigy from obscurity who looks at home playing test cricket immediately. In recent summers, names such as Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Amir have dazzled the Australian cricket watching public with their precocious talents.

If these lads were Australian, they would not have played for their respective states yet much less have sparkled in the test arena.

Dale Steyn, arguably the best fast bowler in the world at present is a twenty seven year old who made his test debut at twenty one and his first class debut at twenty. If Steyn were an Australian, would he have been given such opportunities so early? It is doubtful.

Therein lies the problem.

Australian first class cricket has gone from being the yard stick to something approaching an over thirties league.

My simple solution to re-establish the delicate ecology of young promising cricketers pressuring the more established players for a place in first class and test line ups is to introduce a compulsory minimum component of youth in each state team. This would be in the form of five of the eleven must be twenty three or under.

Radical? Maybe.

Necessary? Absolutely.

It is not the only way of ensuring that Australia climbs back up the rankings, but it will certainly go a long way towards restoring some kind of parity in talent identification. With the compulsory component of youth, state administrators will be forced to locate, nurture and develop promising young players instead of hoping to cherry pick from other states or find a mature workhorse capable of "doing a job".

This all should have been started a decade ago, or at the very latest in the wake of the 2005 Ashes defeat which was the first sign of Australian Cricketing mortality. However, nothing was done and now we are paying the heavy price of complacency.

We must start right now as this is year zero.

FOURTH TEST - DAY THREE

Trott finished on 168 not out in a marvellous display of concentration.

Trott and Prior strode to the wicket this morning with no other instructions but to grind Australia into the turf and set the Aussies an impossible task to save the game. As it was, there was little prospect of that.

Prior was the first to go when he holed out to Ponting on eighty five from the bowling of Siddle. Tim Bresnan then departed rather quickly for four when he was caught behind by Haddin off the same bowler.

Graeme Swann then combined with Trott for an entertaining partnership of fifty three, before he fell for twenty two when he was caught behind by Haddin off the bowling of the luckless Hilfenhaus.

Tremlett was then dismissed for four after being bowled by Hilfenhaus and Anderson was bowled for one by Peter Siddle who was the pick of the bowlers with a haul of 6 for 75. Jonathan Trott finished unbeaten on 168, but one wonders if it could have been so much more if he only had farmed the strike and shepherded the tail. It seemed as if he was playing purely for himself and was batting for the red ink - but we digress, as the lead is so great that it will all be purely academic.

So Australia were set the task of having to make 415 just to make England bat again. Short of a miracle, this test was fast going down the gurgler.

Watson and Hughes set about the task of trying to restore some semblance of Australian respectability when they burst of the blocks with a stand of fifty three off eleven and a half overs of pulsating batting when disaster struck. England had run out of ideas by this stage as both batsmen looked comfortable, when from nowhere, Watson called the hapless Hughes through for a suicidal single when the former pushed a delivery from Swann straight to Trott at short cover who had no trouble gathering and firing the return to Prior who removed the bails with Hughes at least a foot short.

Phil Hughes got off to his usual galloping start before disaster struck.

This was utter madness. With nearly two and half days to bat to save the game, where was there the urgency to take such a risky single? Phil Hughes was finally looking comfortable and set for a meaningful score when his innings was ended by Watson's bizarre brand of running for twenty three off thirty balls.

This brought Ricky Ponting to the crease, who with the exception of his last session cameo at the Gabba, has been out of sorts all summer. Ponting and Watson then settled into a more docile and watchful partnership compared to the opening frenzy of Watson and Hughes, preferring to leave most deliveries outside off and only playing what was absolutely necessary. They brought the score up to ninety nine when with the introduction of the portly Bresnan into the attack, Watson was dismissed for fifty four when he padded up to the same bowler and was adjudged LBW. Yet again Watson had failed to convert a fifty into a century and questions must be asked as to his suitability to the top of the order.

Ponting followed soon after when he was bowled by Bresnan off an inside edge from a less than straight bat jamming down away from his body for twenty. An ungainly dismissal from a fast fading hero who looks to be suffering from a tortured soul brought about by the pressure of having to constantly be the go to man in a sub par Australian team that is not even a shadow of it's former great self.

After his superhuman heroics in the first three tests, even the unflappable Hussey succumbed to the pressure of finding himself yet again at the crease with Australia three wickets down for not many. Hussey was caught driving at short cover by Bell off the suddenly dangerous Bresnan who had captured three wickets in less than twenty minutes.

Michael Clarke and Steve Smith attempted to tough it out as best as they could, but Clarke was eventually caught at second slip by Strauss off Swann in a trap that had just been set for him the ball before - so obvious, but, so predictable and Clarke was on his way for a disappointing thirteen.

Steve Smith chopped on ending an entertaining knock of 38.

Steve Smith played some fine attacking strokes in his enthusiastic innings, but it was almost inevitable that his enterprise would also lead to his dismissal when Smith chopped a short ball outside off stump onto his stumps attempting to play an extravagant pull shot. Smith's cameo of thirty eight had many parallels with his innings of thirty six in Perth in that it showcased his obvious abilities as an unorthodox stroke player, but also highlighted his lack of preparedness to be a test number six batsman. It would be far wiser to ease Smith in at number seven or eight where the responsibility is lesser and where he can work on also improving his leg spinners which will come in more than useful over the next decade if his potential can be harnessed.

Haddin and Johnson saw things through until the end of play where the stumps score was a dismal 6 for 169 and a heavy defeat imminent.

Tomorrow England will wrap up the test and the Ashes by about lunch, if not earlier. With the Ashes irretrievably lost for yet another two and half years, the post mortem's will begin in earnest and it is fair to say that the blood letting will follow. The Australian cricket watching public does not tolerate failure, much less the timid performances served up this series which have brought shame on a once great cricketing nation. Heads will roll, reputations forever tarnished and new blood must be injected.

It may take three or four years of pain, but the test side must be decimated and the kids must be introduced now a la South Africa 2004 who introduced young kids who were trounced by England and Australia in their own backyard in successive summers, but the young tyros of Amla, De Villiers etc grew into men after their inauspicious beginnings. Boys like Maddinson, Copeland, Pattinson, Paine, Hughes, Smith, Hazelwood, Khawaja, Ferguson and O'Keefe must be blooded and persisted with to build a new machine to dominate world cricket. There are no short cuts.

It is year zero.