Martin Samuel on the Ashes

Martin Samuel on the Ashes

Skip over his obsession with West Ham (remember, I told you four years ago the media are West Ham obsessed because they won the World Cup in 1966 dontcha know), and read his opening comments about the Ashes (see here).

It pains me to say it, but he's almost certainly right. This Australian side, together for the last time, was unassailable. We got lucky in 2005, and to be fair we've missed key players this time, but all the same. England have lived off the hype ever since, underperforming both home and away for 18 months. Perhaps the humiliation will wake them up to the fact they need to cement their position as second-best side in the world before attempting to topple Australia. Still can't bring myself to ever think I wanted the whitewash though, even though it's inevitable...