Down Under, England is still the butt of all jokes

With Australia retaining its place at the top of the ICC Test rankings, the press here is back to its favourite pastime of Pommie bashing.

Down Under, England is still the butt of all jokes

Even though Ricky Ponting's men lost to the Proteas by 17 runs at Centurion last night to lose the Twenty20 series 2-0, the local media here is gloating over arch rivals England's eight-wicket humiliation against the West Indies. (England, however, won by nine wickets yesterday to level the five-match series 2-2.

A news agency quotes deposed captain Kevin Pietersen as complaining that he was "sick" of losing and felt like going home.

It also quotes Mike Selvey, now a cricket writer, as writing: "Sometimes England have the capacity to pluck from the conjurer's hat a performance of such staggering ineptitude that for those who are forced to watch, it is hard to know whether to laugh or cry."

Hussey worry
Meanwhile, former Australia captain and SUNDAY MID DAY columnist Ian Chappell believes the career of 'Mr. Cricket' Mike Hussey is on the line as the result of his continuing slump in South Africa.

"He's hit a hump in the road, as every player does, and if he doesn't overcome this he'll get dropped from the team," Chappell said yesterday.

"I think then that's the end of him because you're not going to bring back a 33, 34-year old when he's sorted out his problems."

However, Chappell believes Mike Hussey should be retained for the Ashes series in England in July.

"Technically he's pretty good and there's no reason why he shouldn't come back, but I think the big question mark with Michael is he is such a hyper guy and his idea if he's struggling is to go and hit another thousand balls in the net," he said.

"He's got to come up with a solution and I think his main problem now is mental, there's nothing wrong with his technique."

Michael, the elder brother of David Hussey, who was named man of the match in the Johannesburg Twenty20 match against the Proteas, was run out for another duck to continue his wretched patch on tour.

Michael Hussey has watched his Test average slump from 86.18 after 18 matches to 55.29 from 39 games, which although still impressive, is raising doubts about his future. His most recent century came in October in India last year.