Simon Barnes writes in the Times that Australia are looking vulnerable not because the system has failed but because two of the greatest cricketers, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, have retired. He argues that the greatness of a team is usually the story of a great man. "Warne, [Martin] Johnson, Maradona — they could hardly help but create great teams. They could hardly help but destroy them a little when they went."

... in Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne they had the difference between very good indeed and absolutely remarkable. That’s why the decline began with their retirement. For that matter, the turning point of the Ashes series of 2005 came when McGrath turned his ankle on a stray cricket ball while sodding about playing rugby before the second Test: for want of a man to do the tidying up, the series was lost.