By Gaurang
July 19 2005

The latest thinking is that England have not just a decent chance to put up a good show in the Ashes, but actually may win them for the first time since Shaun Tait was in diapers. There are reasons to believe that this is not just the typical brave whistle-in-the-dark optimism, some would say fatalism, that the English media have habitually displayed before each Ashes series for the past two decades.

The new found team spirit and an unusual killer instinct that Michael Vaughan and his men have displayed in the past year, albeit against mostly weaker opponents, is one reason for English optimism. Another reason is the surprising rustiness, given the intense preparation, including wind sprints in desert sand dunes, if media reports are to be believed, of Australia who seem to be taking much longer than usual to get down to business.

The rustiness resulted in one of the most embarrassing losses suffered by the World Champions when they were easily defeated by lowly Bangladesh in the NatWest competition league stages. This was followed by a further loss to England in the league stages and then a surprising tie in the finals after having the opposition 5 down for 30 odd and lying prone with the jugular exposed. The Australia of old would have dispatched the victim post haste. Ricky Ponting's team was not able to deliver the coup de grace. In fact Australia then managed to lose to England in the very next game by quite a large margin.

However, the Australians finally seem to have gotten some momentum with a very clinical dismantling of England in the last two games of Natwest Challenge. But the only first class match they played before the first Test however again showed mixed results.

The upshot of all this is that most Pundits believe the Australians are vulnerable because they are an aging side whose age may finally be catching up with them, especially in the bowling department.

But the real reason the Australians look vulnerable has nothing to do with the team’s age. It has to do with the missing man in the middle and at the top: Steve Waugh.

Australians are known to be fighters who never give up, but even among Australians Steve Waugh stands out. His tough as nails demeanor on the field included encouraging merciless sledging, which probed every possible mental weakness of the opponent, and didn’t spare players’ personal lives. This attitude coupled with his on field performance created an aura of invincibility around him and his team.

Steve Waugh backed up his and his team's words with gritty deeds, leading from the “front” or rather the “middle”. Waugh scored 7 out of his 10 centuries against the “old enemy” in England, while averaging about 75. A telling statistic is that he had 7 centuries but only 4 fifties in all the matches he played in England, a phenomenal conversion rate, that indicated that he had a fierce desire to ram home the advantage. This coupled with his equally fierce hatred of losing, which his successor Ricky Ponting seems to not have as much of, means that the Australians don’t seem that menacing anymore. Additionally, Ponting has only averaged around the mid 40s with the bat in England, so it may be difficult for him to crack the whip like Waugh even if he was inclined to do so.

But the fact is Ponting has displayed little of the leadership qualities of Waugh. He has looked much less aggressive in the field, often setting negative fields and pulling his foot off the accelerator at the wrong moments, letting the opposition to claw their way back. He has also shown a more easy going attitude to defeats, laughing them off, something that Waugh would never have done. On the other hand he has been more petulant, complaining loudly, almost hysterically, when his team was out played on a turning wicket in Mumbai, something else that Waugh would never have done.

Ponting has also publicly stated that the Australians will not be sledging as much, and that they wanted to present a more wholesome image, though this is probably under duress from Cricket Australia who have had their hands full with the unseemly behavior of stalwarts like Glen McGrath and especially Shane Warne not to mention other players like Andrew Symonds and Darren Lehmann. Ponting even tried to get his opposite number Vaughan to shake hands on a gentleman’s agreement about not disputing fielders’ words on catches, which Vaughan politely but pointedly completely ignored.

Finally Ponting does seem to have a much less intimidating buffoonish frat boy image to the intimidating cold gun slinger image that was Steve Waugh’s. If the Ashes are indeed surrendered by this Australian team, the major reason will most likely be the inability of the new Captain to fill some mighty big boots.