England triumph yet again

Its been a long time coming, 24 years to be precise, but the England cricket team can say that they have truly arrived on the world stage.

No one, not even the Australian fanatics could deny England this crushing series win, an emphatic result which saw them consign Australia to three innings defeats in a home series.

What people may forget is that England had to battle back on two occasions, the first was in Brisbane when they were starring defeat in the face but they dug in and ground out a deserved draw with all top three batsmen getting massive century scores.

That turned the series a bit on its head, as to Ponting and the Australian team it must have felt like a defeat, but to England it gave them a huge surge of confidence that took them into Adelaide.

The second turning point was the heavy loss in the third test in Perth, totally outplayed and out classed by Australia some England fans must have got the jitters and memories of past collapses, not just on the pitch but mentally as well.

However England fought back and totally surprised the Aussies ripping through their batting line up to dismiss them for a humiliating 98.

Australia couldn’t claw their way back after that one, and with Clarke installed as new skipper Ponting sat out with a finger injury albeit a chance to hide away for a bit.

It was a sea of red, white and blue at the SCG on the final day which for England was purely going to be a formality, it almost looked like a home match for them.

And it didn’t taken them long to dispatch the tail and commence one of the biggest parties not seen in Australia since the England rugby team beat the Wallabies in the World Cup final.

Australia must have wondered what they needed to do, they played about with their line up far too much and made changes in every test. England only made two, one which was a forced change to replace the injured Stuart Broad, and the other to replace Finn who proved too expensive in Perth.

The Australian media circled Ponting like a Great White shark around a boat load of Aussie fisherman and the pressure was really on to do something to stop the onslaught. But at the end of the day England were just too good in all aspects of the game.

Batting they lead by example with Alistair Cook dominating at the front notching up 766 runs. He was supported brilliantly by the likes of Strauss, Trott, Bell, Prior and Pietersen who all got on the board with centuries plus.

In the field they looked sharp and took every chance, the only ones they dropped where to shots of the highest order. Not too mention the run outs in which they made the Aussie batsmen look like a possum with a bad limp.

The bowling was second to none, Anderson was brilliant with the ball getting it to swing both ways, he was aggressive towards the batsmen and that counted for a lot. His 24 wicket hall was the biggest down under for an English bowler since the 1950s.

Australia will need to go back to the drawing board, and they will probably be going through the same feelings that England experienced the last time they were here and got trounced 5-0, this will go a long way to eradicating that memory.

Next up will be the World Cup and a great chance for England to win it, I really hope they do but they will now feel the pressure of what its like to be a team that everyone wants to beat.