Although Australia got back to winning last Thursday night, they've been far from the cricketing juggernaut we've seen over the last couple of years. Nothing in international cricket sends out more of a distress signal than a loss to Bangladesh. But at this early stage of their tour I'm saying:
so what?
The Ashes are contested over five test matches. In the context of this particular tour, the limited-over games are like the Christmas crackers before the meal. You want to pull them right and get a bang but if they didn't pop or weren't there at all would you really care? But if mum burns the turkey, now that's a disaster.
Nevertheless, Australia's reversals can't be totally ignored. It's easy to say it's only limited overs and can go either way but the reality is that Australia's dominance has covered both forms of the game and this drop in form may be revealing some cracks.
Questions have been asked about the bowling, particularly the ageing nature of the quickies. Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz are not tearaways any more. Kasprowicz is prone to getting hit in one-dayers and Gillespie has lost a little zip. He's always had a psychological hold over English batsman but that threat may be reducing now. Step up Brett Lee, who never has in England. Lee must claim his place in the test team or they risk becoming an attack with three third seamers.
Then there's Ricky Ponting - out of form. While Australia has plenty of batting and can cover for one in the top six who's out of sorts, I wonder what this will do for Ponting's captaincy. It's all very well captaining a dominant side but with things awry both personally and with the team, can Ponting make something happen?
Steve Waugh rallied his troops by placing his trust and confidence in the players. Allan Border, by all accounts, just got grumpy and scared his boys into performing or the opposition into submission.
But the big worry for Australia is Steve Harmison. They tried to attack his confidence after the Twenty20 with a verbal assault [by McGrath] and they'll be targeting him again. But he looks confident and relaxed and that is a concern for Australia.
