In Praise of English Test Cricket...

The England Test Cricket Team - No.1 in the World.

No, it isn't a surreal dream - it is an almost inconceivable fact.

I'm a 1990s boy and can recall enjoying watching the cricket during those formative years. Clearly at a County level I followed Glamorgan and indeed it was a brilliant memory when they won only their 3rd County Championship in 1997. I still have the Western Mail from the following day safely stored upstairs to mark a historic event after their previous victories in 1948 and 1969 (it's a good thing too because they look nowhere near winning a 4th title anytime soon!).

English Cricket - In the Doldrums
This was the era of Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Devon Malcolm, Andy Caddick, Darren Gough, Dominic Gough, Jack Russell et al.

I remember watching the Test matches with enthusiasm but it was as if the script had been written before a ball had been bowled. England would lose to Australia in every Ashes series and they would never win the Cricket World Cup. It was a team of underachieving grafters. Great talent but with an inability to fulfill their potential.

This of couse was the era of Steve and Mark Waugh, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Brian Lara, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Mark Taylor, Hanse Cronje (yes, I know I know), Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, Anil Kumble.

This was my era.

The concept, having lived through that decade that Australia could be anything other than the top team in world cricket was just unthinkable. If I were of an older generation, I could probably have said the same of the West Indies in the 1970s and 1980s.

Top of the World
So it comes to pass that England have climbed to the summit of Test Cricket.

The historic 2005 Ashes triumph over Australia was something of a false dawn. They couldn't follow that up and indeed were embarrasingly whitewashed by the Aussies back on their own soil at the end of 2006.

But there is no denying that England now deserve their position at the top of the ICC Test Championship.

Since May 2009, they have gone 9 Test series without defeat...

Beat West Indies 2-0 (home)
Beat Australia 2-1 (home)
Draw 1-1 with South Africa (away)
Beat Bangladesh 2-0 (away)
Beat Bangladesh 2-0 (home)
Beat Pakistan 3-1 (home)
Beat Australia 3-1 (away)
Beat Sri Lanka 1-0 (home)
Lead India 3-0 (home)

The victory over Australia in Oz last Winter was truly majestic and proved beyond doubt that the order was changing. It is however more than apt that they have reached the pinnacle by unseating the Team that have been in that place since December 2009. India have been a shadow of their former selves this summer but don't take anything away from England - they have demonstrated a ruthless ability to tear their opponents apart at the first sight of weakness - a quality required but that has rarely been witnessed in an English cricketing team in my 20 year memory.

The Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship mace

They have reached the pinnacle with a solid batting line-up in Strauss, Cook, Trott, Bell and Pieterson. But it is the growing depth in the bowling attack that has impressed me over recent years. Anderson, Bresnan, Broad, Swann and Tremlett have taken English Test Cricket to another level and they are a team to fear.

England will at the end of this month formerly take over from India as the holders of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship mace (pictured). They follow Australia (74 months), South Africa (4 months) and India (19 months) to top the rankings.

They deserve their place and I hope that it will continue for some time. On current form, there is little doubt that that can be the case.

It seems like a long time since those dark days in the 1990s!

The Sydney Morning Herald verdict - Australia's Worst XI

The Sydney Morning Herald today hasn't pulled its punches.

In its opinion, the current Baggy Greens are the Australian Worst XI in Ashes history. That's a pretty big statement but clearly it shows how deeply distressed the local media are at the plight of what not that long ago, were the unstoppable Number 1 team in the World.

Australian Misery

Australian Worst XI in the Sydney Morning Herald's Opinion

The facts in raw terms would add up to their claim. For this is the first Australian team in history to have lost 3 tests by an innings in the same series (apparently it's only the third time in the history of world test cricket that this has occurred).

To add to the misery, this has happened in their own Australian backyard.

As the Herald states:

"Australia's top-order batsmen - set 364 simply to make England bat again - were yet again dismissed to an array of poor shots and brilliant bowling. It has been a repetitive tale this summer, and exposes Australia in every department".

English Mastery

It's understandable for the Aussie media to look at how bad their own country's performances have been but at the same time, England have been equally as impressive as their opponents have been impotent.

Alistair Cook has clearly been the man of the series with a batting average of over 100 per innings. Jonathan Trott has been deeply impressive and the bowling attack of Finn, Tremlett, Anderson, Broad, Bresnan and Swann has been purposeful and has had a strength in depth that the Australians could only have dreamt of matching.

In all, whilst Ricky Ponting's batting form has let him down whilst his record-breaking time as Captain of the Baggy Greens is coming to an ominous close, his counterpart, Andrew Strauss has shown a growing maturity in the role and his solid performances with the bat has added to his rock solid reputation as the man in charge.

It has been historic. Not only the first English Ashes series win in Australia in a generation but it has been an absolute mauling. The records have crumbled and possibly most impressively was the final test England score of 644 - the highest England innings score ever in Australia.

This isn't just a win in Oz, but a win on a magnitude that I will not witness again in my lifetime. Because, let's face it, the Aussies aren't going to sit around and allow the rot to increase.

It's time for Australia to rebuild but for now, England can quite rightly rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!