WELL URNED

Aussies seize back Ashes

AUSTRALIA has won back the Ashes in emphatic style after Josh Hazlewood farewelled the WACA with the trait to which the ground will forever be linked — outstanding fast bowling.

Hazlewood stormed to a five-wicket haul as Australia went 3-0 up in the series to humiliate England and defy an embarrassing wet pitch fiasco that at one point threatened to wipe out the final day.

Australia is now eyeing off a second consecutive whitewash on home soil, with doubt over the futures of England’s underperforming stars.

THE sound of Jimmy Anderson’s helmet cracking as if hit by a hammer will echo all the way to South Africa where Australia’s defining moment of an outstanding summer awaits.

Soon before Australia won the Ashes in Perth the game stopped for five minutes after a shocked Anderson regained his composure from a brutal Pat Cummins bouncer that hit his helmet like hail stones landing on a roof.

For all of Australia’s dominance in this series, the true measure of its worth as an emerging cricket team will be how it measures up in the four-Test series in South Africa in March.

If Australia win that series we can officially brand it one of the world’s best teams and not simply home town bruisers.

The single most successful game plan against England has been to bounce the tail and Australia will surely try to rough up South Africa the same way. The Proteas are watching Australia’s progress closely.

The victorious Ashes campaign has confirmed a lot of the things suspected about this constantly remodelled Australian team.

That its fast bowling group truly is special. That Nathan Lyon is that rare breed of off-spinner who can win a match and not simply sandpaper away as most off-spinners do.

That Steve Smith is a cut above the rest. It is remarkable of what one brilliant player is capable.

For all the deficiencies in England team, had Smith failed England would probably be leading 2-1 with two to go.

There were also some surprise success stories with Trevor Hohns’s in-

form selection panel recalled the Marsh brothers and they shone with centuries and Tim Paine who has done splendidly as keeper (how did he not get a game for Tasmania?). No side has everyone in form. Cameron Bancroft is hanging in there and looks a worthy investment.

Usman Khawaja still looks slightly constricted at Test level but he is worth the wait.

The great strength of the attack is you are never sure who is going to be the best bowler on any given day so even is the spread of talent.

But the measure of true progress is to shine where you are least expected to . . . overseas.

Australia has won only one of its past five series away from home. South Africa will be a rugged test. Lose that series and it is back to the tradition rating of storm troopers at home and run-of-the-mill offshore plodders.

Australia has been barely better equipped to maintain its remarkable record of not losing a series in South Africa since the apartheid era.

Swing, seam, pace and spin. They are covered. The heel injury to Mitchell Starc is significant because while the current attack is in place Australia would be happy to take on any team in any conditions.

But if Starc was absent things suddenly become more complicated and instantly challenging.

England lost this series the early morning allrounder Ben Stokes punched a man and put a hole in his career at Bristol in September.

The morning after the incident, when it became likely Stokes would not make the Ashes tour, the vibe around the cricket world was “no Stokes, no England.’’ It really was that simple. For the England attack to take 37 wickets in three Tests is harrowing evidence of a lack of penetration.

Jimmy Anderson’s 12 wickets at 25 represent solid fare for a bowler whose key weapon — swing — is not suited to the conditions.

Craig Overton, with six wickets at 37, has toiled serviceably but the remainder of the averages are far too offensive to be printed in the family newspaper, particular at Christmas.