A 5-0 whitewash – who could’ve seen that coming!

Two months ago the Australian cricket team appeared to be clear underdogs coming into the 2013/2014 Ashes Series. They had lost embarrassingly in England three months earlier, and they were now in a rebuilding phase.

Then they burst onto the scene at Brisbane for the first Test and won that match fairly convincingly. I was impressed by their performance, but wasn’t fully convinced that they had overcome the quick batting collapses and poor form that they had battled in England. However, throughout the series they showed again and again just how much they had improved.

Several individual performances by the Australians come to mind as I think back over the games. Mitchell Johnson was so influential; he bowled extremely quick, and his short balls got the Pommy batsmen on their back feet.

Brad Haddin also played extremely well. He got several centuries during the series, and each one of these were achieved at important times for Australia, saving them from a potentially low team score. And his impressive wicketkeeping topped off his classy batting performances.

And I think the whole team contributed really. Pretty much every player on the team played well and found form during the series.

The re-emergence of the struggling Australia, and the slight decline of the world-class England shows just how quickly things can change in world cricket. I feel confidence plays a big role in results too.

Australia came into the series full of confidence because they had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and they came out strongly. England, meanwhile, were on the back foot early. They lost their confidence, never to gain it back as the series wore on.