Aussie demolition job

It was only 12 months ago when members of the British media and sadly some England players were publicly gloating following a series win away to Pakistan and screaming, “ bring on the Aussies.”

My bet now is that behind closed doors the same foolish culprits are lamenting that war cry and furiously trying to push the fast forward button to get to the end of the summer.

What a shocker for the Poms this weekend was. Firstly the ‘wounded Wallabies’ extracted sweet revenge. Then Tim Henman succumbed to Goran who has a serve to Cro-at. And if that wasn’t enough, within 30 minutes of Tim being showered, Steve Waugh’s magnificent eleven destroyed England’s best inside 4 days.

The Sun newspaper in England summed it up perfectly with their headline on their back page, “ Crash, Bang, Wallaby.”

To add insult to injury - or more appropriately injury to insult - skipper Nasser Hussain’s summer plans were cracked wide open again.

The Australians make no bones (pardon the pun) about the fact that they always target the opposition captain. They feel if they can break his resolve through constant targeting, they are halfway home.

You have got to feel sorry for Nasser. He is such an important cog in the England set up and must be admired for his hard-nosed, no-nonsense approach and sustained endeavours to toughen up his team. Right now he needs to toughen up his hands.

His bad luck regarding injuries continues to dog his continuity.

He broke his right index finger playing against India at Trent Bridge in 1996. In 1999 he fractured his right middle finger against New Zealand. His left thumb succumbed whilst playing for Essex just prior to the Lord’s Test against the West Indies last year, and now the little finger of his left hand is no longer the little finger of his left hand.

On Sunday night the Australians cracked open the champagne.

In English cricket, the cracks just got wider.