England may regret missed opportunity to crush Ashes rivals

THE slow, subtle process of playing the Australians into form in time for the return Ashes series continues.

Stve Smith scores maiden ton

THE slow, subtle process of playing the Australians into form in time for the return Ashes series continues.

First the sky leaked rain, then England leaked runs. There has been no need to help Australia with their bowling, but the batting was woefully short of confidence when they started. Less so now. After Wednesday's helpful rehab session for Shane Watson, England allowed Steve Smith to jog his way to a jaunty hundred today.

This series began, remember, as the most one-sided in Ashes history. This was supposed to be the worst Australia squad to leave the nation's shores. As it is, they will move into the return series that begins in the autumn with a suggestion of a bounce in their stride.

It looks pretty dreadful on paper, of course, 3-0 to England after four matches. But as the series has continued, Australia have been increasingly winning sessions. After a crushing defeat at Trent Bridge and a genuine humiliation at Lord's, they began to get the hang of the series. Since then they've had marginally the better of things.

And though there have been plenty of Australian virtues to applaud, it has also seemed that England have gone out of their way to help. Stuart Broad talked about how horrible it must be to play against horrible old England with their ruthless win-at-all-costs mentality - but in reality England are chockful of ruth. Once they had won the first two Tests they have seemed determined to give the opposition a chance. Perhaps they felt sorry for them.

I've seen this bunch - the same core players - playing with honed brilliance to beat Australia in Adelaide in 2010; last winter I saw them beat India in Mumbai. At times like these you can almost touch the things that make a top cricket team work: each player certain of his abilities, each one knowing that if one player fails it must be his turn to come good.

In those matches, England took the erratic and volatile stuff of sport and made it certainty. I knew that what I was watching was remarkable, but you never felt for one moment surprised. I remember during the men's singles final at Wimbledon this year realising a long way from the finish that Andy Murray was going to win in straight sets; it was the same sort of feeling.

I haven't felt like that all series. I suppose it's all right to say that England got to be 3-0 up without ever playing close to their best, but that doesn't mean much if they don't find their best again. Preferably in Brisbane, though tomorrow wouldn't be a bad idea.

I've watched Alastair Cook bat until there are 11 men on the pitch begging for mercy, relentlessly accumulating runs as if it were all the most straightforward business in the world. He has broken few hearts in this series; he's turned into an ordinary player. Captaincy at first inspired him and he got a hundred every time he went out to bat. Nothing ever troubled him, until this series. Now it's all a bit of a struggle.

In recent series, opponents would almost prefer not to take the first wicket, because that would only bring in the gloriously self-absorbed Jonathan Trott, but in this series he too has looked ordinary. Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen have each played one very fine innings, but England have always needed more. Ian Bell has been the only consistently excellent batsman.

England hate being front-runners. They have been great chasers - in Adelaide and Mumbai they started the match one down - but they hate to be on top too early. Call it reverse-Tiger Syndrome: the inability to lead from the front as Tiger Woods used to do in golf.

This inability clearly extends to selection. The idea of blooding a pair of newcomers in this match was ten out of ten for style, but maybe 1 and a half for substance. If it was a cunning plan to make sure the Australians put up a better show in the return series, it's all working well. The Australia innings ended with a series of breezy cameos from the tail, each one making England look progressively more impotent.

Australia would have won the third Test match at Old Trafford but for the Mancunian rain. It was pretty much even-stevens in the next match in Durham, but England's so-so (Bell apart) batsmen were bailed out by Broad, who took 11 wickets and cleaned the match up. That was individual brilliance, a different thing to team brilliance.

Australia are a much better side now than at the beginning of the series. The game plan of any dominant side should be to make the opposition fall apart, but England have done the opposite. Australia have been moralised. They will be going into the winter series with realistic ideas about winning matches.

Michael Clarke turned things round by winning the toss at Old Trafford and scoring 187 runs. Other Australia batsman have followed. There have been times in the field when England have looked clueless. There's been a shift of balance across this series, and it's been in Australia's favour.

The England openers had an awkward late-evening session with Australia in charge. They weathered it well, but that Australia were able to put England through it was a tribute to the recovery they have made. The recovery that England, at least in part, have allowed them to make.

The Times