Pom’s View: Why England will be “haunted” by series loss

The Telegraph’s Will Macpherson believes that, despite winning in Melbourne, England will still have plenty of regrets at having lost the Ashes.

After having gone 18 Test matches without a win, the visitors managed to break the curse with a four-wicket win at the MCG in the space of two days.

But that achievement has been somewhat overshadowed by how the pitch conditions resulted in the game being concluded in a short amount of time.

“It was a strange feeling when they won the game,” Macpherson said on SEN Mornings.

“I’ve been in Australia (and) covered nearly every game of that losing run. So, I hadn’t seen England win in Australia before, so that was a nice thing to experience, I suppose.

“But the game itself left me feeling slightly hollow. I thought the pitch did too much, and at an event like the Boxing Day Test, I didn’t understand why you would take a risk like that with the pitch.

“So, it was a frustrating experience in a way.”

But while they secured their first win on Australian shores in 2011, feelings of too little, too late will be prominent, considering that Australia won the series in 11 days.

That, according to McPherson, is set to now “haunt” this side for years to come.

“This series should haunt England,” he added.

“The defeat is all their making. The preparation, planning, a bit of selection in there and some off-field stuff that has got in the way too.

“I think they should have a lot of regrets. They are not a million miles off Australia, I don’t think they are quite as good as Australia.

“Australia’s bowling is just magnificent and ventures so deep. I didn’t have Michael Neser down to make the impact that he has had, for instance. We were expecting the three big quicks and then Boland as well.

“But Neser and even Brendan Doggett have chipped in. Jhye Richardson, I think, would walk into the England side.”

And whilst the bowling has been superb, Macpherson did note that the batting was a different story altogether.

“Australian batting is probably the lowest ebb that I can remember,” he continued.

“Smith is coming towards the end. He’s a magnificent player…alongside Ponting, surely the best since Bradman from these shores at least.

“But beyond that, Travis Head and Alex Carey have been fantastic, but the rest of the top seven have really struggled against an England bowling attack that isn’t generational.

The Ashes will reach its conclusion in Sydney for the New Year’s Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground beginning on January 4.

SEN will have LIVE coverage of every ball bowled throughout the series on its radio network and on the SEN app.