England's loss is fantastic news for the Ashes

They were about three weeks late, but Australia have finally arrived. The bowling attack that was expected to expose England’s batting frailties has found rhythm and we now have a competition on our hands. This was the match-up that many had anticipated – let us hope it develops into the one the public desires.

The signs were there for England that all was not well: among the batsmen, Andrew Strauss had been making a few too many low scores, Jonathan Trott was getting put down a little too often and Paul Collingwood was not making as many runs as he should, while among the bowlers, Steven Finn was conceding a few too many runs and Graeme Swann was not having as big an impact as hoped. But this was fine as long as Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen were scoring double-centuries. That is until Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson found form.

Now England are in crisis, with changes to be made for the next Test. Suddenly, the team that could do no wrong is about to be broken up, the leading wicket-taker in the series singled out as one of the targets. As an Englishman, this may be wrong and perverse of me to say, but this is fantastic news. Of course, seeing England humiliate the Australians after years of embarrassment is delightful, but the cricket feels meaningless – there is no satisfaction in a certain victory.

Cricket should be about tight matches, evenly contested, with the result uncertain until the last ball on the fifth day. Watching a team rack up 600 and bowl the other team out for 200 twice is not true entertainment – it is vacuous. Indeed, I would go as far to say that the best news of the series is that Australia have finally got their act together – it will make for more compelling viewing all-round. It was thoroughly enjoyable watching England dominate Australia, but to finally have a contest – now, that is cricket.