Well done, England. We weren't - aren't - good enough and it showed today. The bits I saw were pretty excruciating.
Where do we go from here? Hard to see, really. The folly of abandoning Hughes last year has come home to roost; he's done nothing since. Jaques hasn't been the same since his back surgery and I'm not aware of any other opener around the place putting his hand up. Of course, Watson isn't an opener, either - yet another wasted innings from him. Clarke stood up (pity he got out to the monumentally bloated ego that is Pietersen - if he was even half as good as he thinks he is, he'd leave Bradman and Hammond combined in his wake) and Hussey tried, but in any other circumstances North would surely be gone. Maybe David Hussey could finally be considered as a replacement, but that would mean the selectors (- Chappell) admitting they've got that wrong in the past, too. Not bloody likely. Throwing Khawaja to the wolves at this juncture would be folly, IMO, and Smith's bowling is nowhere near Test standard (at this stage I see him turning into a Cameron White-type bowler - not a pleasant thought at all). Bollinger was underdone, and it showed, but again bowlers aren't exactly leaping out of the woodwork.
The wheel has well and truly turned, as it always does. Let's brace ourselves for the inevitable English triumphalism (particularly from their media) and get on with life. The sun will come up tomorrow and life will go on, regardless of this result.
(Among other things - see my first post in this thread - listening to the incredibly hypocritical ramblings of the current chief of the ICC on Aunty the other day has helped my indifference to the game grow exponentially; otherwise I'd far less blasé about this result.)
