Ant's Ashes: Why England is winning

England hasn't won yet. And who knows, Australia may yet miraculously win this thing, especially with first innings hero Ashton Agar still at the crease with Brad Haddin after being promoted to Number 8 in the order.
But England is well on top, and there's a pretty simple reason why. In short, England is more disciplined than us. They bowl a little straighter, play fewer loose shots at the crease and generally look to have more of a plan.
Forget all the controversies over the Decision Review System (DRS). The system is not so much a dog's breakfast as a complete canine smorgasbord, but its idiosyncrasies impact both teams more or less equally.
England is not on top because of umpiring, or a lack of it. England is on top because it is playing better cricket.
Australia started well in its chase of 311 last night. But after an opening partnership of 84, England skipper Alastair Cook strangled Australia. He set intelligent fields which denied easy runs and his bowlers backed him up with devilishly miserly bowling.
When England's third-pick seamer Steve Finn came on to bowl in the 29th over, he handed the struggling and hitherto scoreless Ed Cowan a wide ball which the opener cut to the boundary. It was a single loose moment, a minor blip.
But Cook looked ropeable. England has given Australia nothing for free this match, barring the bizarre couple of hours during which Ashton Agar inverted the cricketing universe.
By contrast, the Aussie bowlers have had their foot on and off the pedal like a motorist in peak hour traffic. Pressure, then release, pressure then release. A bad tone was set by a woefully loose James Pattinson effort in the very first over of the match, and Mitchell Starc's second over wasn't much better.
Last night, Starc was at it again. His first ball was so wide and high, it almost killed his captain at first slip before skittling down the boundary. It wasn't quite Mitchell Johnson circa 2009, but it was a fair impression.
Australia has actually played well in patches in this match. And unlike in India where the team crumbled worse than the local pitches, this team has shown grit. Clearly it is a much happier bunch under Lehmann, and probably enjoying not having to hand in homework sheets each night.
But England's class is showing. England is playing just a touch smarter too. It was hard to work out why Cook employed a short mid-wicket fieldsman while Chris Rogers was batting. Hard to work out, that is, until Rogers unexpectedly lofted a ball straight to him.
England has done the sort of homework that really matters in matches like this. It should be enough to have them one-up in the series tonight, and possibly even before bedtime.

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