lol...Australians can have such tunnel vision when it comes to sport
Luck wasn't favouring us (Australia)? Poms didn't deserve to win? We lost because we didn't pick MacGill? We lost because Gillespie was out of form? The weather?
England dominated this series. Without Shane Warne, McGrath at Lords and the rain at Old Trafford it would've been 3-0 at least.
Don't forget:
(1) Harmison was out of form most of the series bar Lords.
(2) Simon Jones was woefully underused, before Vaughan recognised his brilliance...then he got injured (2nd innings Trent Bridge and The Oval)
(3) England had 10 players against Australia's 11. Ian Bell doesn't count. Should've had Pietersen and Thorpe.
(4) The weather stopped Australia's momentum? Old Trafford? England should've been 2-1 up by then.
(5) Sloppy fielding was a reason for Australia's demise. Sure. But you can hardly say England took all their chances (Geraint Jones *shudder*, Pietersen's 6 dropped catches - 1 extremely costly one at Lords (Clarke on 23, going on to make 91))
(6) I don't think England players played above their potential or Australians below theirs at all. England still has an extremely vulnerable middle order and Australians were brutally exposed to the swinging ball (sure, I'll be the first to vouch for the brilliance of Australia's batters, but lets face it, they've faced extremely poor bowling 'attacks' in the past)
btw...Pietersen's lives? 1? The Tait and Hayden catches can't be counted as chances (unless you also count Collingwood's pull shot into Katich as a chance
).
And Ponting's captaincy, field settings, plans for batsmen and bowling attacks. You can hardly blame him for these - (1) his 4th bowlers have usually been out of form/inexperienced, which means hes on the back foot immediately
(2) Straussy and Trescothick usually took the attack to Australia and built a solid foundation (which would usually crumble after Bell's dismal failure)
(3) He doesn't choose his bowling attack.
(4) Field settings and individual plans are usually made by the coach, before play. If anything, Buchanan should be under scrutiny, not Ponting (a 'successful' day against Essex, conceding 500 runs
)
Well, that's my 2 bob.