The Ashes: Ruthless Australia slaughter England, leads the five-match series 4-0

Wisden India
It wasn’t something you would have expected to see. Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, midpitch in the centre of the MCG, locked in a warm embrace. They turned toward the dressing rooms with arms round each other’s shoulders and smiles on their faces.

Last summer, talk was rife about a feud between the two. In March, Clarke was involved in suspending Watson and three others for a Test against India. Watson flew home angry, returned to deputise for the injured Clarke, then resigned the vice-captaincy. Before the mid-year Ashes, sacked coach Mickey Arthur quoted Clarke in leaked legal documents, describing Watson as “a cancer on the Australian team”.

But ten days ago, among the hubbub of celebration as Australia sealed this home Ashes 3-0 in Perth, Watson wandered up to the pitch to souvenir a stump, before walking across to hand it to the otherwise occupied victorious captain. It was a small considerate gesture, signifying something whose fuller expression came with the hug and smiles on Sunday.

Across five Tests in England, Australia seemed star-crossed. The heavens, whether figuratively or climatically, would not give them a break. Four possible wins slipped to two draws and two losses. Seven Test careers were ended either temporarily or forever.

Now, with a Test yet to play, Australia’s home series has already been a dream for all concerned. All that was bad has come good, every weakness redressed.

David Warner, the problem child and derided slogger, carved second-innings centuries in Brisbane and Perth, and would have had three in a row but for a Clarke declaration. Clarke has two himself, answering jibes about a short-ball vulnerability while also shedding the weight of captaining a losing team.

Steve Smith, the twitchy kid skewered for his technique, the laughing stock bits-and-pieces leg-spinning allrounder, made a hundred at Perth that was both team saving and match winning. On the country’s bounciest track, he pulled and hooked to the midwicket boundary all day, a gleaming pirouette of white sending the ball away with a snap of timber.

Mitchell Johnson came into this team thanks to injuries, only to be man of the match three times out of four. His 31 wickets is the most in a series since Shane Warne’s 40 in the 2005 Ashes, and Johnson has another Test to push closer to that mark. He has lifted stadiums and demolished opponents.

Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris have been the twin offsiders: 13 and 14 wickets respectively, both averaging 26. Where Johnson has relented, those two have stepped in. The pace attack as a whole has flourished. Harris also smashed an unbeaten half-century in Adelaide. Nathan Lyon, meanwhile, emerged from his supporting role to take his first five-for on Australian soil.

Watson demolished a fourth Test century just a couple of games after his third at The Oval, and his 83 not out provided more than a third of the runs required for Australia’s Melbourne chase. He’s also accepted that his place requires bowling.

Through the India series he declined to bowl at all, but after straining a groin muscle in England’s first innings here, he still lumbered in when required in their second.

Brad Haddin could almost challenge Johnson for most influential player: his runs have saved Australia time and again. Four fifties, one century, at least one score over 50 in every Test, Haddin is second to Warner on the overall runs list, and top of the first-innings runs. He’s made much of his total with the tail, but stayed calm to ensure good partnerships. His wicketkeeping also looks the best it has for some years.

And then, there’s Chris Rogers. Australia’s oldest has moved his young career along with decent returns, including 72 in Adelaide and 54 in Perth.