England's crushing 196-run win at the Oval on Sunday to claim the Ashes series 2-1 has propelled India to joint second position in the ICC Test ratings, along with Sri Lanka.
England's crushing 196-run win at the Oval on Sunday to claim the Ashes series 2-1 has propelled India to joint second position in the ICC Test ratings, along with Sri Lanka.
South Africa now head the rankings with 122 points. India and Sri Lanka both have 119, ahead of Australia (116). England (105) are fifth, followed by Pakistan (84), New Zealand (82), West Indies (76) and Bangladesh (13).
Not only has England's series victory ended Australia's 14-year domination of Test cricket, it has left Ricky Ponting, one of Australia's greatest batsmen and most successful captains, as only the second leader in 132 years of Ashes history to lose two series against the arch enemy in England.
The dubious distinction previously belonged to Australia's touring captain, Billy Murdoch over 100 years ago.
Sunday's defeat was the former world champions' third series defeat in five, including their first home Test series defeat in 17 years against South Africa earlier this year.
Since 1995, the all-conquering Australian team won five successive Ashes series and three consecutive World Cups until the retirements, in quick succession, of luminaries Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer, Matthew Haydenu00a0 and Damien Martyn.
|
|
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting after losing the fifth Ashes Test at the Brit Oval on Sunday. PIC/AFP |
With the erstwhile 'Mr Cricket' - Michael Husseyu00a0- in indifferent form for some time now, pace spearhead Brett Lee, pushing 33 and injury-prone, and the dependable Stuart Clark, also 32 now, and patently demoralised as the result of being treated scurvily by selectors in the early part of the series, the erstwhile Invincibles could be in for a rough time in the short term.
SupportBut, despite the surrender of the Raj, Ricky Ponting continues to find support as captain, although his own batting has been blamed as a key factor, among many, for the Ashes setback.
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell and opening batsman Michael Slater have led calls for the selectors to be sacked.
With defeat staring Australia in the face, Chappell wrote in his Sunday newspaper column that Ponting should not come under pressure.
Chappell said it was an incredible blunder not to pick frontline spinner Nathan Hauritz on a dry and dusty Oval pitch which was expected to assist spin.
"Not only did they (the selectors) handcuff Ponting at the Oval with four pacemen on a palpably dry pitch, but they also, once again, resorted to the failed ploy of expecting part-time spinners to do a specialist task.
This is a crime punishable by demotion," Chappell wrote.
"In future the opening words in every letter that goes out to a newly appointed selector should be:u00a0 'Always choose a balanced attack.'"
Better than WaughChappell claimed Ponting's critics should lay off as he was a better captain than Steve Waugh.
"There's no doubt that Ponting is still the best man to captain the Test side and that's not just because a demotion would risk robbing the side of its best batsman," Chappell said.
"Despite results suggesting otherwise, Ponting is a superior captain to his predecessor, Steve Waugh. Ponting never runs out of ideas in the field, whereas Waugh, even with a more experienced and varied attack, was often devoid of inspiration."
Slater said: "The fact of the matter is that we have gone over to England with the wrong squad. We needed an aggressive off-spinner and our best option was Jason Krejza," Slater said.
"We should have won the first Test and we didn't, the selectors definitely got it wrong and it has just manifested right through the series."
Meanwhile, England's latest South African-born hero Jonathan Trott, who scored a century on his Test debut, is having the last laugh.
The 28-year old batsman was included in the England squad under controversial circumstances with Ponting saying England must have been desperate to pick him, and South African coach Mickey Arthur claiming Trott would not merit a place in the Proteas team.
As it turned out, Trott became the 18th England batsman to score a century on debut. During the Oval Test, Trott joined two former South Africansu00a0- captain Andrew Strauss and his predecessor Kevin Pietersen u2014 at the top of England's batting averages
ToppersWith an average of 52.6, Strauss is top run scorer for the series. Injured batsman Pietersen averaged 38 after the first two Tests and Trott now averages 80 in his debut Test. England wicketkeeper Matt Prior, another South African-born averages 32.62.
Interestingly, the four South African-born players have scored 1048 runs in this series, which constitute over 40 per cent of England's runs against Australia.
After the Test ended on Sunday, Trott reportedly poked fun at the Australians claiming he could not understand their sledging.
He said he was "as happy as Larry" to be playing for his new country.
"It's a satisfying feeling and an amazing time," he said. "I'm truly honoured to be sitting here after having a great day."
POSTSCRIPT:
In an interesting exchange between the two, former England pace bowler Jonathan Agnew reminded fellow-commentator and ex Test batsman Geoff Boycott that he once had him caught at slip off his bowling.
Boycott replied sarcastically: "Was I looking? I bet I was turned around when you bowled it", to which Agnew responded dryly, in a reference to the England opener's painfully slow batting style: "Well, you were on nine at the time, so it was mid-afternoon."
