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England wins at last

By Ted Corbett

SYDNEY Jan. 6. England, without Graham Thorpe, Darren Gough, Simon Jones, Ashley Giles, Chris Silverwood and Andrew Flintoff beat Australia, which was without Glenn McGrath, Darren Lehmann and Shane Warne, by 225 runs in the fifth and final Test on Monday and a sort of justice was done as it made the Ashes scoreline 4-1 when for two months a 5-0 whitewash seemed inevitable.

It that does not mean that England has suddenly sprinted up the world championship — now, bizarrely, led by South Africa which was beaten in five Tests out of six by Australia recently — or that the basics of English cricket are now in better condition than they were at the start of this tour.

"Nothing has changed,'' said Nasser Hussain, the captain of England. "Their game is far stronger than ours and that has to be addressed.''

So it does. Those who lie abed in England must not be allowed to think that this victory means that there was little difference between the two teams.

The 4-0 chasm that sprang up in the first four Tests was a much clearer indication of the disaster and even those who claim there are positive aspects to be taken by England from the series misread the runs.

This view will be supported by the selection of Michael Vaughan as man of the series but even that brought a warning from Hussain who made it clear he wanted to continue as captain, a wish that will be granted when the sides for the Tests against Zimbabwe are chosen in May.

``He may be a fine England captain in future,'' said Hussain, who praised Vaughan as "an excellent player'' with "the right temperament and lots of shots'' who was going to be "around for a long time''.

But he suggested that there were other candidates for the leadership when he stepped down

and that Vaughan should not have the extra burden "just because he has scored a few runs.''

Steve Waugh, whose future has been discussed by everyone in Australia from the Prime Minister John Howard to the rowdies in the dollar seats, gave no clue to his plans after he was dismissed by a ball from Andrew Caddick that rolled off his heel on to his stumps for six, a key moment as Australia was bowled out for 226.

He is going to think things over, he says; no doubt the selectors will also be considering their options before their next meeting in March.

It was difficult to understand his own reading of Australia's future. He said he hoped for tighter Ashes series, but one must presume that he was, if not playing in his last Test, certainly playing in his last Ashes match. Does that mean he trusts his successors will have a tougher time than he and his immediate predecessors have had.

Today's defeat was the first in Australia for four years, the first at Sydney since Pakistan won here in 1995-96 and England's first triumph at the SCG since 1978-79. England had to bowl a further 34 overs before it mopped up the last seven Australian wickets and, once again, it had a major assist from umpire Russell Tiffin, who gave two poor decisions overnight.

When he gave out the pinch-hitting Andy Bichel lbw in Caddick's first over he, the England players and the electronic device called Hawkeye were the only members of the crowd of 20652 who believed Bichel was out.

Waugh went for six — again to Caddick — and sprinted off into the darkness of the pavilion to avoid the embarrassment of another standing ovation in the way Don Bradman disappeared from public view 50 years ago.

Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee hit out boldly so that 92 for four advanced to 226 by which time Caddick had collected seven wickets, at least three the direct result of Tiffin's illogical decisions. ICC should call a council of the game's philosophers to solve this wretched problem.

It cannot be left to cure itself; either we make greater use of technology or return to the umpire's eye and persuade the television companies to restrict their use of imperfect gadgets like Hawkeye.

At the moment the odds are stacked so heavily against the umpires that it is a surprise anyone will take the job.

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