4th Test - Australia kissing their Ashes goodby?

[Lord Jim]

Well, that certainly clears it up....

[wesw]

thanks gob.

I thought that perhaps there was some tradition that I did not understand, and that he quit the match...., before the fat lady sang.

[Gob]

It began with fireworks and Land of Our Fathers on a damp Cardiff outfield and ended as a contest exactly one month later with Nathan Lyon's stumps splattering 20 minutes before lunch on a sun-kissed Saturday in Nottingham.



This has been a series of unreal pace and unfathomable change, and its conclusion was entirely in keeping: England's Mark Wood riding an imaginary horse around the Trent Bridge outfield; Ben Stokes downing a bottle of beer in one by the old pavilion; Australia captain Michael Clarke retiring from international cricket three months after winning the World Cup, five days of cricket after his side had drawn level with a 405-run victory and 24 hours after insisting he was fighting on.

Even as Joe Root was receiving a champagne shampoo from his cavorting team-mates, there was an air of disbelief about it all. And why not?

Eighteen months ago England were being thrashed 5-0 down under, Alastair Cook's last act in that series to be lbw in Sydney playing no shot to his second ball. Four months ago they were coming back from the World Cup in disgrace, having been beaten by Bangladesh and having failed to even get out of the group stage. Less than three months ago they were sacking their coach for the second time in a year.

To build an Ashes-winning team from those foundations of sand is remarkable enough in itself. But it is in the flair and pace that they have done so which sets this triumph apart.

Not since the 19th century have England won four home Ashes series in a row. Not in 30 years have they won a home Ashes Test by an innings. And yet by the end it was no surprise at all, the new Ashes order as secure as it was unimaginable four breathless weeks ago.

How good was this Ashes of 2015? It has been a summer of unforgettable sessions but only occasional tension, of matches won at unprecedented pace and thrown away with remarkable profligacy, of new heroes like Stokes and Root and the enforced farewell of old stagers like Clarke and his vice-captain Brad Haddin.

The overall balance of power initially see-sawed. An England win by 169 runs, an Australian victory by 405, that total dominance succeeded by an eight-wicket capitulation less than a fortnight later.

In the individual matches, it was contrastingly one-sided. Not this time the knee-knocking tension of Edgbaston 2005, the last-gasp draw of Cardiff 2009 or the 15-run margin of victory in the corresponding Ashes Test at Trent Bridge two summers ago.

Continues..