Aussie media lays into Strauss

Sydney Morning Herald - Time to end 2005 blather

England might have escaped from Sunday's Cardiff Test with a draw, but the Aussie media were far from impressed with their five days of toil at Sophia Gardens.

Ricky Ponting's side dominated for much of proccedings, leaving the Sydney Morning Herald to headline Peter Roebuck's column: 'Foolhardy England drunk on the spirit of 2005'.

Roebuck wrote: " Australia have given England an object lesson in playing tough Test cricket. Ricky Ponting and his boys might not be as intimidating as recent Australian outfits but they play with pride and application. Ponting set the tone with a masterly innings, and his comrades did not let him down. "

Roebuck added: "Now it's up to Andrew Strauss to turn things around. He faces two main challenges. First, he needs to stop all the blather about 2005. Have no other series been played between these sides in the past 20 years? Next, he must make better use of his bowlers and fieldsmen. According to the English papers, the Australians are enduring all sorts of crises. Phil Hughes is scared, Mike Hussey has lost it and Nathan Hauritz cannot bowl a hoop down a hill. By the time they declared, Australia led by 239 on first innings. England have a few headaches of their own."

The Australian- Strauss falls short

The major fallout from Sunday's dramatic events centred on Ricky Ponting's blast for England's delaying tactics during that epic final session.

And Malcolm Conn clearly didn't have much time for the home side's approach either, with his column headed: 'Strauss needs to learn about the spirit of cricket'.

Conn wrote: "Kevin Pietersen is not the only England player in denial. He has been joined by his fellow South African-born team-mate, Andrew Strauss. The England captain is either a weak leader or has no idea about the spirit of cricket. To suggest "our intentions were good" after sending an acting 12th man and physiotherapist onto the field to deliberately waste time in the dying minutes of the tensely drawn first Test is ridiculous."

The Australian - Aussies get inside KP's head

While Conn had little time for Andrew Strauss after Sunday night, he reckons troubled times are ahead for another England star in Kevin Pietersen.

He says two disastrous dismissals and an on-the-field flare-up before play on Sunday show that KP is losing out big-time in the Ashes mind games.

Conn argued: "Kevin Pietersen is muddled in the mind. The Australians have got to him. His on-field blow-up with Mitchell Johnson before play and subsequent bizarre dismissal shows a man struggling with himself.

"The Australians know their best chance of getting Pietersen out is to have him fall on his own sword, or bat, and refuse to take any nonsense from a player who struts around like he is bigger than the game. For Johnson, so recently the Clark Kent of Australian cricket, to get on Pietersen's nerves highlights the resolve of one and distraction of the other."

The Age - Cheating Poms?

Melbourne paper The Age has a Bondi video vox pop on its sports page asking whether the Poms did indeed cheat their way to a a Cardiff draw.

Elsewhere though their final-day report by Chloe Saltau was headed simply: 'England snatches thrilling draw'.

She writes: "Australia has been denied victory on a day of controversies in Cardiff, where England's unflinching tailenders Jimmy Anderson and Monty