A time for despair but not for panic

All winning cricket teams are alike; each losing cricket team loses in its own way. It doesn’t matter, right now, that Shane Watson and Michael Clarke will never be chums just as it did not matter very much, back in the day, that Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist couldn’t stand one another. Victory spawns solidarity. Happiness too.

We are wired to over-react to defeat and under-react to victory. England have been trounced in Australia. Battered in Brisbane, assaulted in Adelaide and pummelled in Perth. The tour has become a travelling horror show and, god help us, there are still two tests left. A 5-0 whitewash is a distinct possibility. Don’t believe anyone who suggests the Aussies might ease up now the little urn is back in their possession. Following three consecutive Ashes defeats they want 5-0.

England’s hopes for this series were based on a kind of wishful thinking. We hoped and wished that Cook, Trott, Pietersen and Prior would bounce back from their disappointing summer series.