England's soft underbelly

What was that about the English cricket team I stupidly posted the other day?

How's this for a soft underbelly? Resuming overnight with a lead of 98 runs and the loss of just one wicket, England contrive to get themselves bowled out over two sessions for the addition of just 70 runs. As I type the Aussies are cruising to victory in a test they should never have had a hope of winning.

Duncan Fletcher is starting to resemble the Steve Bruce of last season more and more - picking favourites regardless of form or fitness, so we have the likes of Ashley Giles (who dropped Ponting on 35 in the first innings, allowing the Aussie captain to go on and score over 100 more runs) and Steve Harmison getting the nod ahead of the next generation of players (Monty Panesar is at least a wicket-taking spin bowler).

Clearly the early part of this match was simply an exercise in papering over cracks. England have probably thrown away their chance at retaining the Ashes and will add themselves to the lengthening list of touring sides humiliated Down Under over the past few years.