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Accuse me of treachery if you care to but not enough attention has been directed towards Australia in this Ashes series.
As is generally the way, that of a negative persuasion will always be more enticing to comment on than its positive cousin and here is an example that hasn’t been bucking the trend.
I’m not referring to the less palatable side of the hosts’ behaviour which is like fillet steak to a cat to the opposite side’s media – and vice versa before you start – but more with regard to what they’ve produced on the field in a cricketing sense.
Too much has been offered that condemns England’s efforts with causes for a pair of drubbings that I’ve seen include, in no particular order, Alastair Cook’s captaincy, the English team’s schedule, poor batting, uninspiring bowling, shoddy fielding, a detailed menu, English arrogance (lazy stereotyping – come on you can do better than that) and I’m sure there are more.
But while it can’t be denied that some of these have almost certainly played their part, every effect has a cause somewhere down the line.
At the weekend, if you’re a fan of English football, you may have noticed that Manchester United were beaten at home by Newcastle, the team I follow, but a coincidence in this instance, honestly.
By all accounts, it was a tactically shrewd performance by the visitors who enjoyed more than their fair share of possession, had the contest’s better individual contributions and we’re good value for their victory.
Yet if you’d seen some of the coverage in the aftermath you may have found it hard to believe that Newcastle has actually been present.
Manchester United haven’t been pulling up any trees by their very high standards, in fact they’re struggling a bit, but Newcastle deserved far more praise than they were awarded.
It is very easy to forget that a sporting contest takes two participants to exist and while an analytical balance is virtually impossible to expect, there’s no harm in trying once in a while.
Australia have been by far the superior side, that much is obvious to all but the most myopic, and it is the ferocity of their approach that done the damage.
Those that have accused England of complacency are way wide of the mark and are simply resorting to an easy put-down.
It has been the overtly aggressive style that the home team have brought to the dance which has been the equivalent of switching on the torch with a rabbit in range.
Given what has transpired, you would think that Mitchell Johnson turned up at the Gabba as a complete unknown, not the bowler that has served up, when his stars haven’t been aligned, some pretty pare fare in the past.
But Darren Lehmann and Michael Clarke have obviously come up with a strategy to use Johnson in short bursts and tell him, in crude terms no doubt, to bowl quickly and stick it up what’s in front of him and the results would tell you that it has worked.
They have decided that spin won’t cause them a problem if it’s attacked and attacked continually, by right-handers in the main although too much is mad of this particular angle, and Graeme Swann’s struggles show success in that area.
Kevin Pietersen’s egotistical approach to his work has been played on to the extent that defeating the challenge of two midwickets has been beyond him.
The profligate use of the short ball could be seen as a waste of effort in other instances but it’s drawing out injudicious and thoughtless shots as the number caught deep on the leg-side indicates.
And, yes I know it’s not strictly cricketing but it has been integral, the over-the-top verbal barrage that has been administered, while an unashamed assertion of the Australian sporting psyche, has dragged them from the meek side of the past English summer to a reincarnation of the sides that used to habitually come out on top.
So feel free to slag of the currently hopeless Poms – I’m sure no encouragement is really needed – but save some energy for praising those who are causing the hopelessness.
They are actually doing quite a good job of it.