There is no denying that this series in Australia has been dismal watching for England fans.  I have lost far too many nights’ sleep being thoroughly appalled and yet too mesmerised to go to bed, sometimes resorting to port for company and consolation – the more devastating the debacle, the better the vintage required!

As Melbourne made particularly painful watching (the 2004 fully crusted was required by the end) it is tiresomely predictable that calls for sackings and wholesale replacement have been widely spread across the media.  However, knee jerk reactions seldom provide sensible solutions and the break before the Sydney Test, one day longer than planned thanks to England’s early capitulation, should be used for reflection not revenge.

What short memories some pundits seem to have.  England’s transformation from gallant losers to top Test nation (albeit fleetingly) was the result of hard work from coaching staff and players alike.  We should be wary of jettisoning all that hard won experience for youthful future promise because of a single series defeat, no matter how abject it has been.  Do we really believe that the talent we were praising in the summer has evaporated?  Surely not.  Cricket is as much, possibly more, a game of the mind as the body and I suspect that it is the mindset that is the most serious current problem.

Andy Flower was the principal architect of the new world class England team and should be seen as a vital part of recovering it.  Alastair Cook was the obvious successor when Flower’s co-architect Andrew Strauss retired as captain and I don’t see an obvious replacement for him at the moment.

Even before England set out for Australia I was nervous about this series.  It seemed obvious to me that Australia would be hurting from three consecutive Ashes defeats and would be determined to avoid humiliation in front of a home crowd.  I remembered the 2005-06 5-0 whitewash in Australia that followed our victory in England the previous summer.  If that had occurred to me, then it must surely have occurred to an England dressing room full of much better cricketing brains than mine.

Although expecting an Australian fightback I must confess to being surprised by its ferocity.  England have also been left blinking in amazement – perhaps actually as well as metaphorically.  Even then, there have been occasional glimpses of their potential.  Bell’s 72 not out at Adelaide, Cook’s gutsy and determined 72 in Perth (he will have been more frustrated by the mode of his dismissal than any of us) and also his calm and confident 51 in Melbourne.  Perhaps most encouraging of all were Pietersen’s two Melbourne innings of 71 and 49, both of which showed a rarely seen caution and sense of responsibility.  These are senior players who still have something to contribute.  The fact that a debutant, Stokes (surely the real find of the series from an England point of view), is the only centurion thus far should certainly make the senior players ask questions of themselves, but doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t be part of the recovery.

It is right that the new MD of English cricket, Paul Downton, should have a frank conversation with Andy Flower about the future.  However, the fact that Flower is, in his own words, “motivated to continue” is music to my ears.  When asked if Cook was still the right man to captain England there was not a moment’s hesitation before Flower’s characteristically blunt reply of “Yes he is.”  He also referred to Cook as having done “excellent things as a leader in the dressing room.”  That’s good enough for me.  At least for now.

Those calling for Cook’s dismissal as captain seem to be yielding to the temptation for a ready soundbite.  Mark Butcher and Geoff Boycott are two examples.  It is interesting that the camp calling for Cook to stay includes more cogent and considered opinions including Scyld Berry, Mark Nicholas, Mike Selvey and Flower himself.  That in itself is telling.

It is always a problem when the most experienced players of a world class team all retire at the same time and the team has to be rebuilt from scratch.  This is the fate that befell Australia in 2006-07 when they simultaneously lost the likes of McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist and Lee.  Why would we inflict a similar vacuum on ourselves voluntarily – and prematurely?