Australia v England - 3rd Test, 4th Day

With the end inevitable, I took today off and attended instead to a social function with friends along the Christmas theme. I sat with another pair of Tragics, comforting each other of the necessity of being there and safe in the knowledge that their absent fifteen year old, genetically sampled cricket mad son would do the right thing. About 2:20pm, their phones signaled messages in synchronicity and it was only a matter of details when I came home.

This is a fine win by Australia, made more so by the heaviness of their defeat in Adelaide and their failure to make inroads into a compromised English batting line up in the second innings at Brisbane. As this game started, pundits were talking of Ashes retained before Christmas and how long it was since that had been done and yet, only just four days later, England have been thrashed and the series is alive.

Objectivity is a useful thing in most circumstances but dangerous when its outcomes lean away from the home side. Then, patriotism is questioned. Loyalty is called upon in sentences which suggest blindness. The fact is, despite my Australianess, I have a larger loyalty and that is to the game. Blessed with whatever skills I may have to observe and form judgments, I owe it to the larger ferment that is cricket to form thoughts clear of passion for vegemite sandwiches, sand between my toes or a gentle bush breeze late on a summer afternoon.

Therefore, looking at this result, what's to be made of the rest of the series? Those who follow will know that my original assessment of the teams was that England would be too well prepared, too mentally tough and too skilled for the Australians. My 3-1 prediction included Australia winning in Perth, so the result is not one I would argue with, by virtue of the performances of the players or what I anticipated.

Breaking it down, as I suggested would be the case, England struggled on a revitalised Perth wicket which had a thick cover of grass and bounce that lasted through the Test. Australia - one imagines at the captains request - let loose the dogs of war in the form of a barrage of sledging and aggressive bowling, which included the session by Siddle against Prior in the first innings, with the intention of intimidating and it worked. Australia under Ponting has done this before and always when the chips are down - think of India in Australia a few years ago in Sydney when Symonds was the expendable spear thrower of barbs designed by Hayden, Johnson and Ponting. There were actions in that game I never want to see from an Australian captain again.

All of this was very much to the advantage of a re-installed Johnson in Perth. Yes his action was higher and in the first innings he bowled beautiful inswingers and trapped Englishmen in front time and again with the deadliest ball in cricket. His was the best bowling performance of the summer. All that came after he scored runs on the first day and engaged in several "dust off" moments with Anderson and others. A man of two moods - unbeatable one day trashed the next - he rode this particular bullet proof hobby horse home to give a superb performance.

Harris was equally pumped and the last over of Day 3 which he bowled to Collingwood was amongst the best by an Aussie fast bowler I have seen for 20 years. The last ball dismissal and the ducking and weaving and apparent fear in Colly's face is certainly enough to cause England misgivings about their best fielder and perhaps even enough to unseat him from the starting line up in Melbourne.

Hilfenhaus continues to bowl without luck and day in and out is Australia's best bowler. Nothing in Perth changes that opinion and Siddle gave a tradesman like performance, injecting the mongrel back into the Aussie attack.

England were rolled in the first innings but batted poorly in the second, shots by Pietersen and Trott well below their standard. Collingwood is in real danger of losing his spot, as the Australians seemed to have his measure. That over from Harris was enough to finally break him.

That's all the relatively positive news for Australia but, on balance, Melbourne and Sydney won't be so easy as Perth. Both tracks play lower and slower than the WACA and that favours England rather than Australia.

The Australian team hierarchy now have to cool Johnson down lest he kill Santa and then bring him up again to play on Boxing Day, because for Australia to win, Johnson must be the spearhead. Both tracks will take spin as the game goes on and the Australians still don't have a spinner they can count on with the deciding games requiring one. Meanwhile, England have Swann, who will need to be better managed than he was in Perth.

England won't bat, as a team, as badly again. Tremlett is a big addition for them and he should be suited by conditions at the remaining venues. Despite Broad's big rep, Tremlett looks the far more impressive bowler. The English bowling attack didn't do badly in Perth, taking twenty wickets for 577 so there's not a lot of change required.

The really big danger for Australia is the dominance that Hussey and Watson have in their batting line up and the poor form of Ponting and Clarke, the absence of a second reliable opener and the newness of Smith. This is placing a heavy burden on Haddin and Johnson and on the day when Hussey finally fails, supporters will have fingers, legs and everything crossed that others might fill the gap. Despite England playing collapso stupedo in Perth, its the Australian batting which looks soft.

Nothing much changes in my appraisal as a result Australia's outstanding work at the WACA. Pitch conditions won't give them an edge again in the series. Both sides have shown what they can do, its a matter now of who is mentally stronger for most of the time. With too many ifs, buts and maybes about Australia's batting and their performance standard being as brittle as a bad mood, its still England I see winning the series 3-1.

No matter how it turns out, at least now we have a contest and one where the fickle Australian supporters who were throwing talkback stones last Thursday, are now throwing their support behind their team again. We don't half set impossible standards for the men who do what we never could.