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The story of this 2001 Ashes tour is not that England showed true grit and batted very well to defeat Australia at Headingley. Unfortunately, in years there is a real risk that this is how this series will be remembered in England.
The true story of this series is that England was comprehensively thrashed to the extent that apart from one day of glory, they were never in the hunt at any stage of the series.
The heroics of Headingley owe a great deal to the weather, as have so many English series of past years. Had it been fine on the fourth day of the Headingley test then Australia would have batted England out of the game without hesitation and, in all likelihood, dismissed England for yet another belting by hundreds of runs.
As it was, the Australians commendably declared and allowed England a sporting chance in order for a result to be achieved rather than a stagnant draw. Few other current Test teams would even consider this.
However, Australia would have been more merciful in this series if they had completed the "Baggy Greenwash" that Australian newspapers had been predicting. Then England would have no excuses - they would have to face the fact that their cricketing nursery of County cricket needs urgent structural reform before they are ever going to compete with the top echelon of Test nations. As it is, the lingering dream of Ashes glory continues to have the ascendancy.
England has shown considerable improvement over the last year. However, this came from a low base. English cricket had been slumbering since the mid 1980s. Until they defeated West Indies in their home season last year, England was consistently sixth in the Test Cricket Rating Service rankings. Over this 16-year period England held an average rating of 1012 points.
During England's recovery over the last year they have improved their rating 46 points and moved from sixth place to third place in the ratings. However, Australia and South Africa remain over 86 points ahead of England. Put another way, England would have to repeat the quantum of their improvement (over the last year) twice more in order to catch up and become truly competitive. This is somewhat less than likely to happen.
England has now won six of their last 38 Tests against Australia dating back to the 1989 series. This gives Australia a staggering 24 victories over the period or a four to one winning ratio with eight draws. Of England's six wins, only the first Test in 1997 was won before the series was already decided. This is the most telling statistic.
There are other problems including the commitment of some of their Test players - demonstrated by unwillingness to captain the side and Test players making themselves unavailable for tours. How many other nations display this attitude?
Administrators have also been guilty for far too long of maximising the chance of the weather intervening and causing draws. As a matter of urgency they must install quality lighting at all Test venues. They should also allow for lost time to be made up in the morning by starting earlier rather than just extending play in the evening gloom when the bad weather is most likely to intervene.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1 Australia (1205); 2 South Africa (1155); 3 England (1059); 4 Pakistan (1058); 5 West Indies (1044); 6 India (1020); 7 New Zealand (1001); 8 Sri Lanka (993); 9 Zimbabwe (932); 10 Bangladesh (835 - provisional).
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