England surprised us

Their bowling won the Ashes for them 8212; and also the GenNext talent that they are now armed with.

Some players in this England team are absolutely superb, athletic and capable of delivering when the side needs them most. Andrew Flintoff was a fine example of how a player in form can make a major difference to the outcome of a match on his own.

To add to that was their pace battery which I should readily admit is one of the best the Australians have been given to face.

There have been questions about whether the loss to Bangladesh in the one-dayers before the Ashes was in any way a warning before the real storm broke. Clearly, we didn8217;t see anything like this coming and Australians will admit it 8212; though the hard way 8212; that England took us by surprise.

First, the batting did not go the way we expected it to and that was half the job undone. The top batsmen failed to strike form at the right time and that dealt a severe blow to our aspirations. In the last Test, for example, even a good start by Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden could not prevent the middle and the lower-middle orders from falling apart.

And in the second Test, where we came the closest to taking a further lead in the series, if the middle-order would have batted as it has in recent times, the Ashes could have presented a totally different picture altogether. I still feel the second Test 8212; to a large extent 8212; was the beginning of the downslide.

Now that the Ashes are lost, and the expectations buried, there is obviously a lot of disappointment. When we left for England, things were exactly the opposite of what they are now. The mood in the camp was upbeat, as if Australia just had to march into England and defend the series like they had done for all these years. But it didn8217;t quite go that way.

To be honest, this Australian team has always worked very hard and it is sad that this bunch will go down in history as the side to lose the Ashes for first time in 18 years. That will be a black spot but, on the brighter side, playing England in one of the greatest Ashes ever has been a revelation.

There will be changes for sure but not sea changes 8212; and that is a general feeling. In a way, the Ashes loss has also forced us to face reality of a certain kind. It is time to examine our assets and look at what8217;s left to build up on. The selectors are already busy and an overall structural change may be on its way.

My job has also been placed under review and so is the issue of whether we need further specialised coaching staff for the team. Quite a few players in the team are now past their prime and therefore a review of any sort will give a lot of youngsters the opportunity. But that is an area for the selectors to work on.

Right now, there is the Super Series. We have been champions and will have to get going against the Rest of the World like champions do. That will be another occasion for use to judge our strengths and weaknesses against the best players in the world. And the Australians are in no way taking it lightly.