Ashes 2017/18: Australian Media Laments Lack of Fight From England
While the whole of Australia is rejoicing on the return of the urn in the country, the nation’s media is not very delighted with it, and the reason behind it is perhaps right for the betterment of the game. With England staring down the barrel and are bracing up for yet another whitewash Down Under in the last 11 years, Australian media have slammed them.
The rivalry which began with a mock obituary following Australia’s first victory on the English soil over the full strength of England, on August 29, 1882, went on to become the most celebrated rivalry in the game but even the glimpses of it not been witnessed in the ongoing series.
The beleaguered current English side has looked like a pale shadow of the former teams which gave Australia a run for their money even in their backyard. The margin of defeats have only widened, as the series progressed- they lost the first Test by ten wickets, and the following one by 120 runs.
And although they managed to come up with a good batting performance in the first inning of the third Test, scoring 403, they ended by losing the game by an innings and 41 runs.
And such has been the lack of competition from Joe Root & Co. in the ongoing series that Australian media could not stop themselves from condemning it with some even claiming that the celebrated rivalry is dead.
“Rivalry dead: Brilliant Aussies humiliate pathetic Poms,” wrote Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, under the splash headline “God Save The Ashes”.
“England are on their knees with several senior players on the ropes and now facing the stark realisation that they could suffer a third 5-0 humiliation on Australian soil in the past 11 years,” wrote Ben Horne in the Adelaide Advertiser. “Smith can smell blood in the water.”
READ MORE: The Ashes 2017/18: When Kevin Pietersen Called Joe Root ‘Captain Fantastic’
On the other hand, NewsCorp’s Robert Craddock wrote England’s fate was sealed on the very day when Ben Stokes punched a man outside a bar in Bristol which eventually saw him getting dropped from the squad.
“England lost this series the day Ben Stokes punched a man and put a hole in his own career at Bristol in September,” Craddock wrote. “The vibe around the cricket world was ‘no Stokes, no England’. It really was that simple.”
Fairfax’s Greg Baum, meanwhile, expressed his disappointment over the fact that the Tests in Melbourne and Sydney will be irrelevant once again as far as the outcome of the series is concerned.
“Because of the reconfiguration of the Australian summer 20 years ago, Sydney has not had a live Ashes Test since 1994-95, and Melbourne has had only one, in 2010-11. It died at lunch on day one,” wrote Baum. “Each Ashes series begins with a frisson, but ends in anti-climax.”
READ MORE: The Ashes 2017/18: Alastair Cook Dismisses Retirement Talks
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