ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES A LOSER

Australia’s recent loss to India (2-0 in a two match series) is good news for England. Firstly, it means Australia have fallen to fifth in the ICC world rankings; one place below England. Secondly, it is the first time for over twenty years, that the mighty Aussies have lost three test matches in a row. In terms of Ashes preparation then, things couldn’t have gone worse for dear old Ricky Ponting. With his batsman failing to capitalise on relatively flat wickets (a lack of big hundreds being one of the main reasons for their failure) and with his bowlers offering little penetration (despite taking the prized wicket of Tendulkar - who had already made his sixth double hundred - debutant Peter George looked particularly ineffective), the skipper will be hoping for the return to form of a number of key players (the two Michaels, Hussey and Clark, have contributed little in recent times) and the return to fitness of a handful of others (Siddle and Hodge in particular) come the 25th November. Psychologically, the Aussies confidence must have taken a knock. After dominating world cricket from the late 1990’s right through the Noughties, to be ranked in the middle of the table (and thus, by definition, nothing more than average) requires a massive mental adjustment. The fact that England, the old enemy, are ranked above them, only adds insult to injury. Yet, despite recent events being undoubtedly good news for England’s chances of retaining the Ashes, one shouldn’t right Australia off. In their own back yard, with a number of key players back in action and (perhaps most importantly) with a point to prove, Australia will still be fierce competitors. Don’t be surprised then, if over the course of the five match series, we see glimmers of the old Australia.

One thing that must be making Ponting feel better though, is the fact that New Zealand have lost a ODI series against Bangladesh, which currently stands at 3-0. What is going on with New Zealand cricket? While Bangladesh are stronger in the shorter format, so too are NZ. They shouldn’t have lost to them and need to take a long hard look at what’s going wrong.