Tony Becca

The Ashes series of 2006-07 is over and, as expected, Australia, after surprisingly losing in 2005, strolled to victory.

What was not expected, however, or hardly so, was the ease with which Australia demolished England.

Not only did the home team win 5-0 and in doing so handed the visitors their second Ashes whitewash and their first since 1920-21, but by winning the first Test by 277 runs, the second by six wickets, the third by 206 runs, the fourth by an innings and 99 runs inside three days, and the fifth by 10 wickets inside four days, by coming back every time they appeared to have been in trouble, by turning the screws every time England found themselves in a corner, they did so with almost ridiculous ease.

In the second Test in Adelaide, for example, England, after scoring 551 in the first innings of the match, after resuming on 59 for one for a lead of 97 on the last day, appeared safe and out of trouble before they were hypnotised and destroyed by right-arm leg-spinner Shane Warne.

On top of that, a look at the averages shows that Australia, with batsman Mike Hussey finishing with 91.60 followed by captain Ricky Ponting 82.88, Michael Clarke 77.80 Andrew Symonds 58.00, and Matthew Hayden 51.62, with bowler Stuart Clark finishing with 26 wickets followed by Shane Warne 23, Glenn McGrath 21, and Brett Lee 20, were also way ahead of England for whom Kevin Pietersen, with 54.44, was the only batsman above 50, and Matthew Hoggard, with 13 wickets, was their best bowler.

The question is this: what happened to England why they failed to put up a fight?

Harmison was below par

The answer, or part of it, must be that England were without regular captain and batsman Michael Vaughan, batsman Marcus Trescothick, and pace bowler Simon Jones, that pacer Steve Harmison was below par for the first two matches and that, for whatever reason, they did not select left-arm spinner Monty Panesar for the first two matches.

Additionally, it must be that instead of selecting pacer Sajid Mahmood, they went into the first Test match with Harmison who was coming off an injury and who was bowling for the first time in a long time, that Andrew Flintoff was way out of his depth as captain of the team, and with their Test players, those under contract, playing only a few County matches per season because of a fear that they may burn themselves out, that the players, most of them, were not match fit.

Having said that, however, the real reason why England were no match for Australia was the fact that Australia, with the bat, with the ball, in the field and with Ponting as their captain, were much better, much stronger, than England in every department of the game.

Hayden and Justin Langer, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke and Symonds, plus Adam Gilchrist at number seven, Warne at number eight and Lee at number nine, form a strong batting line-up - much stronger than Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cooke, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Pietersen and Flintoff, Geraint Jones or Chris Read.

When it came to the bowling, there can be no question that Australia's attack of McGrath, Lee and Clark, Warne and Symonds was better than England's Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, James Anderson and Ashley Giles, or even that of Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, Mahmood and Panesar.

Five-nil to Australia was a just result, regardless of what coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Flintoff may say, England, even when they scored 551 batting first in Adelaide, never even offered a challenge, and despite the retirement of batsmen Damien Martyn and Langer, of bowlers McGrath and Warne, despite the pending retirement of Hayden and Gilchrist, the way things are looking Down Under, it could be a long time before England taste revenge.

Apart from the presence of Ponting, Hussey and Clarke, Symonds, Lee and Clark, plus Stuart MacGill - the right-arm leg-spinner who has matched Warne wicket for wicket almost every time they have played together, waiting in the wings are batsmen like Phil Jaques - 8,712 first-class runs, 25 centuries, top score 244, average 56.94; Brad Hodge - five Test matches, 409 runs, top score 203, average 58.42; Chris Rogers - 7,159 first-class runs, 19 centuries, top score 319, average 50.06; Adam Voges - 1,447 first-class runs, five centuries, top score 178, average 42.55; and young Mark Cosgrove - 2,939 first-class runs, six centuries, top score 233, average 40.81, all-rounders Simon Katich and Shane Watson, wicketkeeper/batsman Bradley Haddin, young off-spinner Dan Cullen, and fast bowlers Shaun Tait, Mitchell Johnson, and Nathan Bracken.