When fiery pace led to Aussie downfall

The Australians do not make too many mistakes but on Tuesday, starting with their accent on pace, they certainly made quite a few and paid dearly for it, writes Kris Srikkanth.

Pace has its place in cricket but at times it can be put in its place too. The Australians do not make too many mistakes but on Tuesday, starting with their accent on pace, they certainly made quite a few and paid dearly for it.

England, on the other hand, for once played at home as if they were indeed the home team, and handled the conditions very well to romp home against their arch rivals. That the victory over Australia came about after four years or so would have surely led to a huge party tempered only by the fact that the tournament itself is yet to be won.

The English team is riding high on confidence and the win over Australia is just what the doctor ordered for English cricket. It was rather sad to see just 8,000-10,000 people at the venue for such a match-up, which in keenness is second only to a India-Pakistan affair.

Cricket has lost out a little to football and rugby and some of the blame for that has to apportioned to the performance of the team in recent years.