SORRY loyal readers but I’m going to dredge back two decades when the hapless England cricket team was a worldwide punchline.
Quite cruelly, it coincided with old rival Australia being almost impregnable, making Ashes series a foregone conclusion.
It all crested in the 2001 Ashes, which this week is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Australia won 4-1 –a fairly typical one-sided scoreline from that era but all these years later it seems remarkable that it wasn’t a whitewash.
Australia won two Tests by an innings and the others by seven and eight wickets respectively. Only a sporting declar...