Ashes scattered on the wind

There was a very sudden change in the weather this morning; the glorious sunshine of the weekend had given way to a squall this morning, the wind whipping through the trees in sudden gusts as if the country itself was venting its angst at the loss of the Ashes. It seemed somewhat appropriate that as I left the house the clouds rolled in for the day and the the rain came down -never quite pouring but a constant drizzle - it all felt very English.

The Australian sporting press have been casting around for some sort of explanation for the calamity of losing the Ashes – from the talk show jocks complaining about the evil pitch produced by a scheming groundsman (which didn’t stop England posting a significant second innings total...) and the dodgy decisions, to the more measured soul searching about selection and captaincy decision making from the moderate elements of the press; but none were willing to credit England (‘a poor side’ according to Mark Waugh on Fox Sports 3 days ago) for beating the Men of Canary Yellow. The knives are out for Pointing at the moment, too. A shame, because he is a great batsman, but as this series showed, not a great captain - and not as good over this summer as Andrew Strauss. After Headingley, Fox Sports replayed the game constantly on a two hour cycle; tonight, for some reason, we're being treated to NZ v Sri Lanka, a game that finished 3 days ago. I wonder why.

At Kit's school the groundsman is a Kiwi who supports anyone against the Aussies; so the Naval Ensign (with stars) was flown at half mast, and was flanked by the Union flag on one side and (after Bledisloe on Saturday), the Kiwi flag on the other. I'm not sure the Headmaster was especially impressed. Most Aussies are pretty magnanimous; they're having to get used to defeat here, actually - bottom of the Tri-Nations and series losses to India and South Africa at cricket which leaves them fourth in the world rankings; behind Sri Lanka.

I can recommend the blog of the BBC's Nick Bryant who is based in Sydney, for those interested. For the most part, the Aussies are good enough to allow us to enjoy our moment of glory and don't begrudge it; they know they've been lucky for many years, and they're now getting a little taster of what we've had to go through year of year. It's not doing them any harm. And for us, well, it's worth just making the most of it.