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Dennis Lillee appeals as he traps English opener Geoffrey Boycott in front in 1981.Credit: Patrick Eager<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia have always been such a terrific team,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey\u2019ve had good seam bowlers. We saw last year [Jasprit] Bumrah was on a different level, complemented by some other seam bowlers that just hit really good areas on the wickets that we\u2019re playing on right now, that\u2019s what you need.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of batters the Indian team have just got batters coming from everywhere. There\u2019s probably a whole list of guys who weren\u2019t here last year that could\u2019ve played a role and done just as well as some of the players who were playing. You see that in their white ball formats a well. You can almost play an Indian B or C team, and they\u2019d compete against anyone in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
What, then, of England? Smith pointed readily to the fact that Australian players generally play a lot more games in the UK, whether at club, county or international level, than the reverse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of being more competitive when we\u2019re over in England, good question,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of our players have had the opportunity to play some county cricket, play on some of their wickets, get used to them.<\/p>\n
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Steve Smith prepares for another SCG outing.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI think over the last couple of years we\u2019ve had players that have played other series in England before, so we\u2019ve been exposed to those conditions and it\u2019s entirely different. That might have something to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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One fundamental difference between England and Australia is that the existence of 18 county clubs means there will alway be opportunities for overseas players, the tight and unrelenting contests fought out in the six-team Sheffield Shield are more or less barred to foreigners. England captain Ben Stokes is no fan of opening county cricket to overseas players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is odd when you see touring teams or players get given opportunities to play county cricket before a big series,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cI\u2019ve never really understood it. You never see it anywhere else in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think Australia would sign a visa for one of our lads coming over and playing Sheffield Shield games before an Ashes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Adelaide, CA\u2019s chief executive Todd Greenberg opened the possibility of room being found for some England players to take part in the Shield in future seasons, the better to understand Australian conditions. But that stratagem will face considerable opposition from the six states, and it is hard to see Australia\u2019s selection chair George Bailey looking too kindly upon it either.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHistory says it\u2019s been done before. I think we have to have an open mind to it,\u201d Greenberg had said. \u201cAs the global world changes for cricket, this concept that we lock down our own paths and our own systems without some sort of broader knowledge of what\u2019s happening around you [is wrong]. So I\u2019d have an open mind to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was with [ECB chief executive] Richard Gould for those first two Tests, we started talking about the next Ashes series. There\u2019s a spirit of dialogue that we would work together on that, and vice versa, that we can help him out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Zak Crawley set up England\u2019s successful run-chase at the MCG.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
All this is to say it\u2019s difficult to know where the next competitive Ashes series down under is going to come from. Zak Crawley, the 27-year-old England opener who has been the tourists\u2019 leading scorer on tour, said that his progress in Australia had been incremental, but the win in Melbourne would help.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou only get those feelings in the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to sit here and say what I\u2019ve learned, but having played a few Tests here, I definitely get more of those moments where I think \u2018God I\u2019ve made that mistake before, I\u2019ll try not to do it again\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to get a win and prove to yourselves that you can do it. We can definitely take that forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawley\u2019s signs of promise will need to become more substantial next time around. Otherwise it will be a clear five decades since Willis, Botham and company took an Australian Ashes series all the way to its final day.<\/p>\n