Ashes 2015: The Sad Story Of A Self-Inflicted Australian Downfall

Months before the Ashes, the incessant barrage of reviews all held a common vision – one in which Australia would dominate English cricket and return with the Ashes. England, fresh off an embarrassing premature World Cup termination, rolling in the dire negativity that came with the sacking of their coach and stubborn dismissal of their disputably best modern batsman, were looking to salvage some pride against a raging, unstoppable Australian beast. On paper, it was easy. On one hand you had the consistently aggressive batting prowess of Steve Smith, David Warner, Chris Rogers and Michael Clarke against the flailing, desperately clinging strands of hope of Alastair Cook, Adam Lyth, Ian Bell and Gary Ballance.Australia brought with them the most fearsome modern-day bowlers in Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc, accompanied by the canny Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon. England were reasonably better off in their bowling department as compared to the batting, with the skills of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn and Mark Wood at their disposal in the English swinging conditions, but their potency was feared to be below the Mitchs’.Australia too let that hype and overconfidence get to their head, having won the 2015 World Cup by making gradual leaps of improvement in each match.

#1 1st Test, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff

Joe Root takes the catch to win the 1^st Ashes Test

Mitchell Johnson issued a death threat ahead of the first Test, symbolizing Australia’s confidence in ruthless domination, and at that point no one disbelieved them. England had shown signs of a revival with their performance against New Zealand, but no one thought they could match Australia’s level. Not even the Australian team.

Led by the inimitable Joe Root, England fought hard and surprised the Australians with their grit. Australia’s reply, influenced by their hubris, was to disrespect the English bowling by trying to be over-aggressive, highlighted by their reaction to Moeen Ali’s off-spin. Most batsmen got off to starts before poking at wide deliveries or trying to play some shots, and on a dry pitch suited for batting, their batsmen failed to capitalize on starts.

England was as surprised at the outcome as Australia, and this led to another flat batting wicket at Lord’s.

Score: England 1-0 Australia

#2 2nd Test, Lord\'s

The visiting Aussies struck back at Lord’s

Australia received a minor setback, and driven by the much-needed wake-up call they showed up at Lord’s with some subdued determination. This time they were focused on the execution of their plans and skill over the art of aggression. The Lord’s pitch which was uncharacteristically non-English suited their batting, the bowling preyed on England’s intrinsically weak self-belief and the match was wrapped up with no respite from the English side.

The Australian top order had scored bucketloads of runs, the English batsmen had failed and all those previews seemed to be on point, albeit a minor hitch that was the Cardiff Test.

Things were finally going according to plan, and the Australians disregarded the shock loss at Cardiff immediately. The series, once again, looked to be heading to an Aussie decimation of England.

Score: England 1-1 Australia

#3 3rd Test, Edgbaston

James Anderson had to go off the field with a side strain, but not before demolishing the Australia battin

With renewed pride, Mitchell Starc gave the most dismissive interview questioning England’s tactics and re-affirming that the Aussies had reverted to the visions of domination they’d been harboring prior to the Ashes.

Chris Rogers further confirmed the timeline of pride, shock and re-affirmed pride within the Australian changing room, and business was expected to resume as normal at Birmingham.

With the demons of Edgbaston 2005 haunting Michael Clarke, he chose to bat first this time and was already regretting it by tea on first day, having been bundled out for 136. This wasn’t entirely the captain’s fear of repeating history, as they were subjected to some brilliant swing bowling by James Anderson, but all the Australian batsmen showed impatience in wanting to counter swing bowling in its first incarnation in the series on the Edgbaston pitch.

The frustration of having to defend a low score saw erratic lines from Starc and Hazlewood, and that was relief for the English batsmen, who made few mistakes. Once again, Australia’s pride led to their downfall, and England were in the right spot to pounce.

#4 4th Test, Trent Bridge

Stuart Broad was the wrecker-in-chief for the 4^th Test

In what will go down as a historic Ashes Test, Stuart Broad skittled the tourists with an eight-wicket haul in fatal conditions. Once again, the Aussies were subjected to good bowling and they did nothing to combat it. Many batsmen prodded at deliveries that could’ve been left, and an amateur performance by world-renowned batsmen against swing bowling was witnessed.

Once again, England walked in with no pressure and lots of time, which allowed them to happily dictate terms. A deflated Australian side had nothing to offer, and the match never came back into their grasp.

The mighty Australians had crumbled, and the words of Mitchell Starc questioning several English players’ spots in the teams had zoomed back to hit them in the face, with the skipper Michael Clarke announcing his retirement from cricket, Shane Watson dropped for good, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh not being able to cement spots in the team and 2013 Ashes saviour Brad Haddin never making it back after personal commitments had forced him to miss a Test.

England have played well, yet for some reason this felt like a case of Australia losing it more than England winning it. Maybe it was the stubborn refusal to pay homage to swinging conditions, maybe the obsessive infatuation with aggression or just the disbelief that they could be dominated as well.

All the previews predicted this Ashes wouldn’t change much – England would flounder and Australia would flourish. But the 2015 Ashes will always be remembered for what it actually did – change the timelines of Australian and English cricket drastically, and rather unexpectedly.