Down Under,it’s question hour

As it was,most Australians were sleeping overnight on Sunday when the end came. It was 2:48 am local time on Monday on the east coast when Michael Hussey was finally out to complete a 197-run defeat at The Oval in London,sealing England’s 2-1 win in the five-match series.

Ricky Ponting now has the dubious distinction of being only the second Australian captain — and the first since Billy Murdoch more than a century ago (1884 and 1890) — to lose the Ashes twice in England.

After a comprehensive victory in the fourth Test to square the series at 1-1,after wasting the chance to open with a victory at Cardiff in the first Test,Australia were favored to win or least hold on for a draw in the last match to retain the Ashes. In two overcast sessions,the entire series turned,and England had the upper hand from the second of five days.

Former Australia opening batsman Michael Slater came down hard on the captain,criticising Ponting and the selectors for allowing Australia to slip to No 4 in the world rankings after defending the No 1 ranking against the odds and against a better team in South Africa earlier this year.

“The fact of the matter is that we have gone over to England with the wrong squad,” Slater said.

Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody also criticised the selectors,saying their decision to leave out spinner Nathan Hauritz in the deciding Test was “horribly wrong”. “To not pick a genuine spinner in that situation is inexcusable,” said Moody,who is coach of Western Australia state and a former Sri Lanka national team coach.

But chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said he has no intention of giving up the post he has held since mid-2006. “The side will be doing a review of their own performances,coaching staff will be doing the same,selectors will be doing the same and we’ll all sit back and see what we could’ve done better,” Hilditch said.

Backing for Ponting

Ponting,34,is among the leading batsmen of all time,with 38 Test centuries and 11,345 runs at an average of 55.88. But his success rate has plummeted as captain in the wake of retirements of some of the game’s modern greats,including leg-spinner Shane Warne and paceman Glenn McGrath.

Ponting’s record in 61 Tests as captain is 39 victories,11 losses and 11 draws. In 26 Tests since the last Ashes,he has won twelve,lost eight and drawn six. He responded to the 2005 loss with a sharp focus on his batting and Australian selectors are hoping he rebounds from this in similar fashion,dragging a relatively inexperienced line-up back up Test cricket’s pecking order with him.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said calls for Ponting’s sacking were unfair,and defended the lack of a spinner in the final match. “Ricky’s had a very,very good series,” Sutherland said. “He’s been under incredible pressure…I thought the dignity and poise that he showed in defeat was something that all Australians should be very proud of.

“We’ve lost the game by 200 runs which is pretty significant and having a spinner in the side wouldn’t have helped us in the first innings,when we were bowled out for 160 and effectively lost the game.”

He said he felt Australia’s inexperience contributed to the loss. “I don’t think we’re under any illusions as to where this team’s at,we’re definitely in a rebuilding phase after losing some of the best players to ever play cricket for Australia,” he said. (AP)

‘Broad’s spell,Hauritz omission cost Aussies’

London: England pacer Stuart Broad’s hostile spell cost Australia the decisive fifth Ashes Test,reckons spin legend Shane Warne. “After all the hype,I think the final match was decided by one spell from Stuart Broad after lunch on Friday,” Warne wrote in his column for The Times. He also felt Ponting misread the pitch. “I am sure that after an hour’s play on Thursday,if not earlier,Ricky would have been thinking to himself at slip: ‘I could have used Hauritz here’.” — PTI