They are the five hours that will haunt Australian cricket for many years to come. The wicketless final moments at Cardiff, then two horrid batting collapses at Lord’s and The Oval, were all it took for Australia to give up the Ashes to England despite a raft of statistics that pointed towards the visitors as deserving winners of the series.
As he pieced through the wreckage of a failed Ashes campaign, which made captain Ricky Ponting only the second Australian skipper to have twice lived with the experience of series defeat in England, selection chairman Andrew Hilditch admitted his panel erred by not choosing Nathan Hauritz for the final Test.
But Hilditch refused to use the selection of an unbalanced side on a tinder-dry pitch as the reason for defeat, instead conceding a young touring side had simply fallen apart at the worst possible times.
“We would’ve changed the side (from Headingley) if we’d read the wicket right, and we would’ve played Nathan Hauritz,” Hilditch said on Monday.
“But it would be an oversimplification to say that meant we lost the Test match, that’d be incorrect. We lost the Test match because we got 160 in the first innings.
“Jamie Cox was the selector on duty, but everybody misread the wicket, from our entire playing group, captain and coach included, and that just happens.
“To see the hard work that all those players put in, a very important series for everybody, to see it fall apart at the Oval was hard for everybody.”
Hilditch a cool customer, showed genuine emotion in his disbelief at the final result.
“I’m feeling gutted and in some disbelief over the last couple of days,” he said.
“The traditional signs of who’s going to win a Test series are all there and it should have been Australia.
“We had six of the top seven batsmen, 10 centuries, eight of them Australian, the three leading bowlers in the series were all Australian.
“Everything indicates that we dominated the Test series.
“We lost the Test series through five hours of cricket. We lost the Test series in the last hour in Cardiff when we should have won, I thought at the time it was going to hurt us, which it did.
“Two hours of batting at Lord’s in the second Test and maybe even an hour’s batting at the Oval in the first innings when we really needed to get 4-500 runs and get into a good position.
“The Test series really came down to us losing key moments and England winning key moments. It didn’t come down to individuals, it came down to, at the right time England won the critical moments and we lost them.”
There have already been calls for the heads of both Hilditch and Ponting, much as there were in 2005 when a far more battle-hardened side fell short.
But Hilditch remained firm in his belief that rebuilding the side after Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath was always going to create potholes, difficult as this one is to face.
“Reality check is we’re a young side, a rebuilding side, we’ve lost a lot of great players but no time to reflect on that, we’ve got to reflect on the future,” he said.
“We’re going to have ups and downs in performance over the next couple of years while we continue a rebuilding process.
“The process is far from over, we’ve still got players we’re going to lose in the next couple of years and lots of positive signs, though it’s probably not the time that people want to hear about positive signs.”
RATINGS FOR AUSTRALIAN PLAYERS IN THE 2009 ASHES SERIES
SIMON KATICH (5 Tests, 341 at 42.62)
Did his job. Would have loved to have gone on and scored more than one hundred for the series.
Rating: 7SHANE WATSON (3 Tests, 240 at 48)
Proved something of a revelation after being thrust into the opening gig. But must watch out for lbws, his method of dismissal in four of his five bats.
Rating: 7.5RICKY PONTING (5 Tests, 385 at 48.12)
This series loss will haunt him as the first Australian captain to surrender the Ashes twice in England. His 150 led the way in Cardiff and 78 in Headingley sealed England’s fate in that match. But for the man who has almost done it all in cricket, there was no happy ending.
Rating: 7.5MIKE HUSSEY (5 Tests, 276 at 34.50)
Mr Cricket was almost renamed Mr Wicket before his career-saving second innings hundred in the final Test.
Rating: 4.5MICHAEL CLARKE (5 Tests, 448 at 64)
Australia’s batsman of the series. But the deputy skipper will rue his double failure in the Ashes decider.
Rating: 8.5MARCUS NORTH (5 Tests, 367 runs at 52.42)
The new No.6 cut the mustard in his Ashes debut series but will be less than happy with his meek finish to the series.
Rating: 7BRAD HADDIN (4 Tests, 278 runs at 46.33)
The wicketkeeper struggled enormously with the swinging ball at Lord’s but still didn’t drop a chance. His batting numbers declined following his busted finger that rubbed him out of the third Test.
Rating: 6.5MITCHELL JOHNSON (5 Tests, 20 wickets at 32.55)
The numbers flattered him. He performed below expectations and handed England critical momentum at Lord’s. Remains an enigma.
Rating: 5.5PETER SIDDLE (5 Tests, 20 wickets at 30.80)
Bit like Johnson, but more consistent. At times lived up to his nickname of Sid Vicious but needs to show a bit more control.
Rating: 6.5BEN HILFENHAUS (5 Tests, 22 wickets at 27.45)
The leading wicket-taker in this series and the mainstay of the Australian attack. However battled a bit in the Ashes decider.
Rating: 8STUART CLARK (2 Tests, 4 wickets at 44)
One great innings in limited opportunities. Sadly the big man struggled to make an impact following his starring role in the first innings at Headingley. Could have played last Test.
Rating: 5NATHAN HAURITZ (3 Tests, 10 wickets at 32.10)
Did better than expected. Australia missed him at The Oval. Words many thought would never be uttered.
Rating: 6PHILLIP HUGHES (2 Tests, 57 runs at 19)
Arrived with a big reputation but dropped after two Tests when thought suspect to the bouncer. A reality check after a blazing career start.
Rating: 3GRAHAM MANOU (1 Test, 21 at 21)
Did a fine job behind stumps filling in at Edgbaston. Copped one of the best balls of the series from James Anderson.
Rating: 6NOT USED
BRETT LEE
ANDREW MCDONALD
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