British press taunt beaten Oz
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Oct. 14: “Bring them on! Has there ever been a better time to face the wobbly Aussies in the Ashes?” — screamed the headlines in British papers after Ricky Ponting’s men were handed a 0-2 drubbing by India in the just-concluded Test series.
British media also celebrated India’s triumph, saying it’s the best time for the English team to face Aussies as they struggle to retain their aura. The Daily Telegraph wrote it has been fascinating to see the Australian team decline. “There are few things in sport more fascinating than the decline of a dynasty. Now, as results fall away around him, Ponting finds himself cast in an unenviable role: the last emperor of Australian cricket,” Briggs writes.
But former England skipper Nasser Hussain warned that it was premature to consider Australia a spent force. “Australia’s defeat in India tells us what we already know: there is no better time for a trip down under,” Hussain wrote in The Daily Mail. “Andrew Strauss said last year their aura had gone and he was spot on. The Aussies are back with the pack now. They are there for the taking — at least as much as they have ever been,” he said. “But if people expect England to go to Australia and wallop them, they should think again. History tells you Australia do not get walloped at home, and the reality is there is very little between the sides,” he added. Hussain also defended Ponting, saying that the Aussies were simply up against a very strong Indian batting line-up in home conditions.
“Australia have gone through a lot having bowled against a strong Indian batting line-up, whereas England have prepared by knocking over Bangladesh and a weak Pakistan side in friendly conditions. The Aussies will feel life is about to get easier; England may have a different view,” he wrote. India defeated Australia in both Tests to win the series 2-0.
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