The Ashes series has been pretty depressing for England but in professional sport a lot of the game is played in the mind.
While I don’t entirely agree with those who say if you haven’t played professional sport you can’t know, I do think the general public maybe sometimes don’t realise the extent to which mindset is vital to the sporting make-up.
The first two Tests in the Ashes have been a perfect example as the Australians set out to be aggressive and bully England.
Perhaps one of the few England players to come out of the two games in a positive light is Stuart Broad, but because he had already been taken to task by the Australian press and had been called a cheat even before a ball had been bowled, he was already on a battle footing.
However, most of the rest of the England players have been stumbling and were obviously not mentally prepared for the series.
The Third Test in Perth promises to be an even harder game as their main tormentor Mitchell Johnson will be playing on his home track in Western Australia, which will be harder and faster than the wickets in Brisbane and Adelaide.
And the odds on an Australia whitewash have now dropped to 4-1, which is frightening, as before England went out they were the team being backed to win all five Tests.
Yorkshire’s Joe Root is another to have set an example to those around him and he showed so much grit in staying at the crease for hours to compile 87 at the Adelaide Oval.
You got the feeling that because Root is still so fresh to the international scene that he was not about to let the general malaise get to him.
But it was worrying listening to Matt Prior talk before the Perth Test when he said: “We need to stand up and be counted and England are usually up to the challenge.”
That one word ‘usually’ was wrong!
Prior should have said ‘always’ and it does suggests why England have been so disappointing so far.
