At the start of the series I and I'm sure many others were expecting a total thrashing by Australia. The results previously had suggested nothing else. But all credit to England they did fantastic. Every player, with perhaps the exception of Lyth, made a superb contribution.
The venues must be really kicking themselves over lost revenue though. Several days of lost ticket sales and all the associated sales of booze, food etc that goes with it.
I never expected Australia to thrash England on our own turf. They haven't done that for yonks. I am surprised by the margin of victory in the 3 tests we won though.
Fair play to England, they took full advantage of home tracks & executed their bowling very well.
Interesting article here:http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/aug/08/the-ashes-2015-michael-clarke-darren-lehmann,
Seems to suggest there are some young batsmen around, they need to start picking some for a series to see whether they can step up.Khawaja seems to have been around for a while without making a breakthrough.
The bowling line up is interesting: can you play Starc and Johnson in the same team?Possibly, but only where you have a very reliable third seamer who will keep things tight and also a fifth bowler so that Starc and Johnson can have the 'luxury' of bowling in short bursts.
England still need to tweak a few things as well: a "proper" (i.e. match winning) spinner is desperately needed, and someone needs to nail down the opening spot alongside Cook.Lyth has scored a hatful of runs in county cricket but I don't see too many others 'banging the door down'.
The only candidates I can see are Alex Hales, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Stoneman and I've always rated Varun Chopra.
Regarding the spinner issue, England haven't had a world class one for years other than Swann. All the other spinners of recent years - Monty, Giles, Croft, Tufnell etc, all average between 35 and 40. Moeen is averaging 35.Putting him as no. 8 was a masterstroke by England in terms of adding depth to the batting (3 fifties, several 30s and 40s). England don't need a match winning spinner in home conditions now that they have four good pace bowling options. Be interesting to see how he, along with Rashid and Root, get on in the UAE later this year.
If Root's back wasn't such a concern I'd like to see him bowled more so that a good leg spinner or left arm spinner would be great as 'variety' compared to Root.
Bringing Simon Kerrigan back (after his awful debut) would be brave, or perhaps take a punt on Adam Riley at Kent or Zafar Ansari at Surrey.
There's the old England we used to know!
Ooh Lyth got 19 runs, that's one of his highest this series. Good for him.
With poor weather looming Australia have got to force the follow on surely
The forecast is rain for Sunday and onwards, so a draw seems a likely result, batting collapses permitting.
Both teams are just so inconsistent, it's hardly Test cricket at all.
Decent bowling from Australia, they got much more out of the pitch than we did.
What a bizarre series this has been !