Last Updated on 9 years by Charbel Coorey

From winners to amateurs.

A week ago, the talk was about England’s new found aggressiveness and confidence. The talk was about Australia’s struggles on slower pitches. The talk was about whether Australia could bounce back as a team after losing by 169 runs at Cardiff. All that went out the window as Australia completed a huge turnaround to thrash England by 405 runs at Lord’s.

The good news for England is that there are only three issues they need to deal with.

The bad news is that those three things are their batting, bowling and fielding.

They were completely outplayed in all departments. Australia were ruthless, never letting their foot off England’s throat since winning the toss on the first morning. Smith and Rogers combined for a record partnership, and their bowlers bowled with what Shane Warne would call “great wicket taking intent” and further exposed England’s top order woes, which have been prevalent for a while now.

England’s top order has struggled.

England sit last in terms of averages for wickets 1-3 in Tests in 2015. The English media has made clear of this, particularly pointing out Bangladesh, who average 58.86 (including a triple century opening stand against Pakistan) compared to England’s paltry 26.86. The English media is unforgiving and they’ve been just that after the Lord’s thrashing, only days after praising the side in Cardiff. When you’re winning, as England did at Cardiff, it’s easy to overlook the obvious weaknesses England have in the side. In addition, England is a side that can falter under pressure quite easily and look rattled, as evident with Ben Stokes’ dismissal on what turned out to be the final day.

3 for not many has been too familiar for England

It wouldn’t be wise to make wholesale changes in a series of this magnitude, especially in positions so important (top order). Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance and Ian Bell are under increasing pressure. Gary Ballance is the player reported to be under the most pressure and rightly so as he looks the least likely to threaten Australia out of the three in question. Even though Ballance scored strong runs against India and the West Indies, his technique still didn’t inspire confidence for tougher tests against New Zealand and Australia to come. That has proven right. To be frank, Australia will hope he’s selected for Edgbaston because he looks as if he will get out each ball he faces. Lyth and Bell might very well survive for Edgbaston but they’ll need to step up.

Back to no.1. Smith was too good.

For Australia, this was a perfect performance. Steve Smith was brilliant, amassing 273 runs for the game. Chris Rogers, who went off with dizziness on the fourth morning, scored 173 and 49* and looked in ‘total control. Australia will hope that the long layoff can help Rogers be ready for the 3rd Test. The likes of Warner, Clarke, Nevill and Marsh also enjoyed some time in the middle as Australia amassed 820 for the loss of only 10 wickets in the whole game.

And how good were the bowlers? This was such a huge improvement from Cardiff, constantly challenging every single England batsman who walked out to the crease. The Aussies saw weaknesses to be exploited and exploit those weaknesses they did. This Aussie attack is building up to be a very good one after the retirement of Ryan Harris, with each bowler (even Mitchell Marsh took key wickets) playing their role and most importantly, each bowler is different which adds further variety.

Some key stats which further show how one sided this game was:

– Australia averaged 82 runs per wicket (820/10) whereas England averaged 20.8 (415/20).
– Chris Rogers and Steven Smith (495 runs) outscored the entire England team over two innings (415).
– The margin of 405 runs was Australia’s third biggest Ashes win and England’s fourth heaviest in their history in terms of runs.

Lastly, the talk about the pitch suiting Australia is odd. The Lord’s track was created by England to negate the pace of Mitchell Johnson and the Australian attack, and this is a fair point because of how slow the Cardiff track was as well. If you’re worried about the opposition’s quick bowlers, you would do what you can to negate them. This backfired for England, because their bowlers were the ones who looked toothless for the most part and their batsmen looked all at sea against an attack that was threatening but disciplined. Australia found a way to bounce back, England will need an even bigger turnaround if they are to bounce back in Edgbaston.