Australia fear slow recovery for struggling team

In wasn't long ago that Australians used to patronize the English cricket team as a joke, during a dominant run of eight Ashes series victo- ries when winning became habitual. They're not laughing now. Australian cricket is in the pits, amidst accusatory finger-pointing, and as England savour a golden era, the once preeminent Aussies wallow in a black hole of their own making. Australia capitulated to a crushing 347-run defeat at Lord's on Sunday with more than a day left to hand Alastair Cook's team a 2-0 series lead with three Tests to play. That was their sixth consecutive Test defeat, coming on the back of a 4-0 series loss in India their worst performance in 29 years, and just one loss away from the record of seven straight reverses from 1884-87.