Can England prevent the whitewash?

England have their backs against the wall now with a 4th loss at Melbourne in as many test matches in the ongoing Ashes. Having won the Ashes 3-0 earlier this year at home, England hardly look the side which not so long ago was at the pinnacle of test cricket. Bruised and battered, the English are now staring at a 5-0 whitewash. Although it has happened before, when they suffered a 5-0 loss in 2007 in the Ashes which was incidentally Shane Warne’s farewell series but since England have reinvented themselves in international cricket under Andy Flower and brought in a stricter regime and a modern mentality into the team’s scheme of things, they have hardly been steamrolled like this test cricket. More importantly, they seemed to be getting the better of Australia and rampaging in the Ashes in recent years. With 3 consecutive Ashes wins since 2007, two at home and one down under, England came into this series as the favourites but they haven’t lived up to it at all. The last time Ashes was held down under in 2011, England dominated and won the series 3-1 but they have been pretty ineffective in the bouncy tracks of the island continent this time around. They had their noses in front at the MCG for a good part of 3 days but let the advantage of a first innings lead slip away with a disappointing batting performance in their second innings, managing a paltry 179. The thing which would be particularly worrying the English cricketing fraternity would be the manner in which they have lost these 4 test matches. They have lost the important moments, failed to drive away any sort of advantage and haven’t yet come to terms with the Aussie pace attack, with Mitchell Johnson in particular, with the new beard and all, proving to be their nemesis in this series terrorising almost every batsman. On the other hand, there is a good feeling about Australian cricket at the moment with the fans and ex-cricketers speaking of this series as the ‘return of the good times’ in Aussie cricket. Whilst the efficacy of that tag will be seen in time to come, but there’s no denying the fact that Australia has looked refreshing and full of firepower in this series. Their batting and fielding has blossomed while the bowling has been particularly impressive. The tactic of going in with the trio of Siddle-Harris-Johnson has paid rich dividends for the hosts, with the some able support from Nathan Lyon as well who finished with a 5-wicket haul in the second innings.
England, however have a lot to ponder, if they want to save some face in the last test match at Sidney and avoid a series whitewash. Not that they already have do not have a lot of post mortem to do after this series, but a 5-0 whitewash, in my opinion, would dent their confidence up to unprecedented levels in recent times, which might affect their performances in test cricket for some time to come. While the Sidney pitch might not offer a lot to the Australian pacers as did Melbourne and Perth, the English still have a lot to worry and do their homework well for having any chance to stop the Aussies. However, I think the Aussies are really high on confidence and have enough firepower to beat England one final time and finish with a 5-0 Ashes whitewash. The onus is on England to churn out an unlikely fight back.